Relics of the Past
by Aeron Solo
Summary: After the assasination of Regret, the Prophets and High Council send a group of soldiers and a fleet to find and recover extragalactic Forerunner tech. But some tech doesn't want to be found...and fights back. Remake of Sithking Zero's story
1. Covenant

Aeron Solo: Halo, Bungie, Microsoft, Homeworld II, Relic Entertainment, Sierra, and any and all related companies, images, characters, topics, scenes, locations, and other such things, do not belong to me.

Relics of the Past

Chapter I:

Covenant

* * *

_It was a time for death._

_Ever since the destruction of the Halo ringworld, the high council of the Covenant had grown fearful of the humans, forcing into battle still more of their resources. Each and every day, more and more brave Elites, Grunts, Jackals, Hunters, Engineers, and all manner of sentient beings that made up the Covenant were sent out to war._

_Each and every day, more and more of them did not come back._

_Though the Prophets and Brutes denied it vehemently, whispers and rumors abounded among the lower castes and even among the soldiers. Even the prophets were growing nervous about the impossibilities that were rumored:_

_The Covenant itself would be destroyed by these "Humans."_

_Normally, they would not trouble themselves with this idle gossip. After all, the humans were nothing more then over-evolved monkeys with primitive tools, barely capable of independent thought. They squabbled like a flock of Legthanokiso over a scrap of meat, were (on a large part), very weak physically, and still used gunpowder weapons. When the Prophets had set their sights on the human worlds, they had expected swift and unparalleled victory._

_That is, until they encountered the Spartans._

_When the Spartans first clashed with the Covenant, the Covenant had thought that these fleshlings would be no different then any other members of their pathetic race. This changed the first instant that one had single-handedly slain a squad of Elites, Grunts, Jackals, and had used their own weapons to do it. The Spartan then went on a rampage against them in one of their own tanks._

_Worse for the alien collective, there were HUNDREDS of these beings. Thusly, special orders were received by the units of the Covenant: _

_**SHOOT THE SPARTANS FIRST.**_

_While simplistic, almost idiotically so, the plan was a success, of sorts. Kinda weird, but with the Covenant's guns trained on these "Demons," as the Prophets called them, they fell one by one._

_And so it went. System by system, the Covenant annihilated all human life, carving a swathe of destruction across the galaxy. The Spartans began to falter. Humanity began to lose hope of ever beating the menace from the stars._

_Then, from nowhere, a shocking wave of news passed through the Covenant:_

_The sacred ring, Alpha Halo, had been found- and destroyed- by one of the last of the Spartans. A green-armored Spartan with a blue holographic female companion. The demon of all demons._

_This was the Master Chief._

_However, before the Master Chief blew up Alpha Halo, multiple files and computer systems were recovered from the holy ring, and among them was a list of coordinates of Forerunner sites. While the list was far from complete- the list was missing many known Forerunner temples and cities- it did reveal several sites that had never been discovered, including those a Galaxy away._

_With the promise of Forerunner supertechnology at the other end of the line, the Prophets assembled what was to be known as the Holy Fleet of Exploration, created and maintained for the sole purpose of recovering the Forerunner technology._

_And so they appointed an Elite, Shen V'Klek, to lead the fleet to glorious victory..._

* * *

"Go, and may the light of the gods guide you on your quest!" the old prophet hissed at Shen in his Golden armor.

"And may the will of the gods be carried out by their children," responded Shen.

"FOR THE GLORY OF THE COVENANT!" Shrieked the assembled crowd, completing the ritual.

Shen turned on his heel and stalked out, his two-meter tall bulk accompanied by his two hunter bodyguards.

He waited until he was well out of earshot of the grand high council, Shen turned his head almost imperceptibly, his four jaws opening and closing in the strange way of speech his people had developed over the millions of years of their evolution.

"So, what do you two think of this new assignment?"

The hunters stared straight ahead, as they had been taught all throughout basic training. The taller of the two was named Tuikandra Dolo Skaina, Tui for short, and was de facto leader of the ground forces of the assault group. His mate, Lakara Dolo Naida (La for short), walked next to him, shorter but stronger then her husband.

The three had formed a strange friendship over the years. Since the alien-worm collectives known as hunters had been assigned to Shen's command almost fifty years ago, Shen had learned to trust the two, knowing them both to be wise and strong warriors, each having single-handedly killed a Spartan each, a feat which usually took several squads of Elites, countless grunts, a Scarab, and numerous other personel. In return, they had found someone both could trust, someone they could look to for a fresh perspective when their own viewpoints differed. So when their commanding officer asked them in this way, they knew that military protocol wasn't necessary, since he was addressing them as equals.

Tui spoke first, saying each word with deliberate caution. "Shen, you are wise and a fine warrior. You know that we trust you…"

La finished for him. "But we think that this is a suicide mission."

"I suspected as such as well." Shen murmured. "After all, few of the ones who defended the Prophet of Regret from the Demon's desecration are still in service…"

"Yes, the others have been 'retired,' or blamed as heretics." La added.

"While the useful ones have either been reassigned, such as the Arbiter," Tui finished, "and guess how many of the defenders of the Prophet are on this mission?"

Shen let out a mirthless laugh. "Counting us, all of them?"

La shrugged as they rounded a corner into the hall that led to the shuttles to their new command. "All but the Arbiter, retirees, and the Heretics."

"So we'll all die, then."

"Not nessecarily, commander." Tui reported.

The two others stopped and stared at him.

"Well, I took the liberty of looking over the mission schematics. There ARE Forerunner objects at the other end of the jump coordinates. If we were to bring them back…"

Shen grinned. "We'd be welcomed back with open…" he glanced at his companions, thought of the various races that made up the covenant, then looked at his arms. "Well, we'd be welcomed back as heroes, at least."

La smiled (in her way), and hummed. "And if it's REALLY big, we might each get our own battle groups, or even our own spot in the council for helping them achieve the Great Journey sooner…"

Shen began to jog to the shuttle, smiling with both of his pairs of toothed appendages. "Then what are we waiting for?"

The hallway was filled with thuds as the Hunters' massive feet struggled to keep up with the Elite's much lighter footsteps.

Aeron Solo: _I just wanted to take a brief pause to dedicate this story to Sithking Zero, who came up with the initial idea. He was unable to continue, but has permitted me to continue in his stead. Many thanks to the author who started it all, and I will carry on the tale of these brave Covenant militants._


	2. Karos Graveyards

Relics of the Past

Chapter 2

Karos Graveyards

* * *

Shen walked onto the bridge of the _Path of the Wanderer_, his sense of purpose renewed by Tui's words.

He strode up to his navigator, Uram Kadum'ee. "Morning, Uram."

Uram jumped to attention, saluting. "Commander!"

Shen sighed. "Enough with the formalities, Uram. You will not need them where we're going."

Uram, still not used Shen's lack of a need to be acknowledged, blinked and shrugged. "Whatever you wish, sir."

Shen walked to the console, folding his arms. "Have you seen to it that the coordinates were punched in?"

"Yes, sir!" Uram confirmed.

"Kardas, have you conveyed the coordinates to the entire fleet?" Shen asked. He got a nod in affirmative from the ironically silent communications officer. "Open me a line then, if you please."

Uram pressed a button, linking all the vessels in the convoy to the communications net. "All ships, prepare for the slipspace jump. We are leaving in two minutes."

He waited, impatiently counting down until the last ship gave the green light. "Making the jump in five...four...three...two...one..."

* * *

All the vessels in their convoy opened up portals of whitish-blue light, and immediately entered them, slipping into the seven extra dimensions towards their destination...

A lone Junkyard dog wandered the Karos Graveyards, slipping gracefully in between the derelicts. It twirled in between a pair of moving asteroids, making it to the other end just in time.

The Junkyard dog was still scouting for new ships to capture and tear apart when it suddenly detected a presence in a more distant part of the graveyards. Junkyard Dog alerted the other Progenitor derelicts. Keepers rose from the derelicts. A Keeper of Sajuuk revived itself from its one hundred year slumber. Many ships joined them as they filed towards the wormhole, ready to take out the invaders should they attempt to disturb the Graveyards.

* * *

The _Path of the Wanderer_ exited slipspace, soon followed by the rest of the fleet.

Shen looked around, awed by what he saw. "Wow...that's a lot of relics."

"A bit _too_ many if you ask me," an grunt named Chadgrah, more famously known as "Salvo", grumbled.

Shen smiled knowingly. Salvo was well known due to his dislike of excessively old "hunks of junk" as he called them. He really didn't have too much faith in the Covenant faith, but he was allowed to remain so because he was a brilliant fighter. Even Elites were impressed with his skill, and ironically more than one hunter owed his or her life to Salvo's berserk interference, often a strategic hail of plasma bolts that nailed his foes with infallible accuracy. He was no more than a deacon, but his insight was valued by many commanders, as he saw weaknesses and strengths with greater ease than most.

Salvo scowled as he surveyed the wreckage with irritation. "Well, let's haul this junk back to the Prophets and hope they're happy with it."

Shen nodded. "Deploy the Phantoms. We're hauling these relics back to the Prophets."

The Phantoms filed out of the hangar bays, heading for the massive derelicts.

"Sir! Multiple contacts inbound!" the sensors officer suddenly reported.

"What? How can this be?" Shen asked, shocked. "What's their identification?"

The jackal in question looked at the monitor, and the flesh on his face went ghastly white. "By the rings..." he said in horror, his mandibles slack in stunned turmoil.

"What are they, officer?" Shen asked, urgently.

The sensors manager gulped. "F-Forunners, sir," the elite choked out.

Shen felt the blood drain from his own face. Forerunner vessels..._active_?

Suddenly, rectangular orange portals opened up and peeled away, revealing active vessels. All were of recognizable Forerunner tech.

Shen jumped as a strange voice echoed across the bridge. _We are the Keepers of the Graveyard. What is your purpose here?_

Shen spoke aloud, managing to keep the tremor out of his voice. "We are here to take all Forerunner relics back to our society. We will achieve that at any cost."

The voice was silent for a moment. Then, _Unacceptable. We will not stand by idly twiddling our thumbs while you deactivate our brethren, scavenging our fallen for trophies, and disgracing all Progenitor AI constructs with your inferior touch._

"W-wait! We're not-!"

_We will not let you disturb the Karos Graveyards. The Keepers will never allow you to return to this "Covenant"._

What color was left in Shen's face drained away. _How do they know about the Covenant?_ he wondered, cold sweat dripping down the back of his neck.

Tui quickly spoke up. "We do not intend on deactivating you. Not if you wish to come willingly. Tell us, what are these "Progenitors" you speak of? We are quite certain that these are all Forerunner constructs."

_Progenitor and Forerunner are the same term, two different names for the same race. They are synonyms, the true word meaning "the ones that came before". They are mightier than you; we can see that all your so-called technology is reverse-engineered from our own. We will not allow another violent race to take the super-dreadnought Sajuuk; you will never return, whether you live, or you die. _As they finished speaking, strange vessel suddenly began drawing in large waves of power.

Shen immediately said, "I don't care if we are disgraced by this. I won't allow our convoy to be destroyed. Uram, prepare a jump out of here. Anywhere. In the meantime..." he glanced at Tui.

Tui correctly interpereted the glance. "All hands to battle stations. All dropships, return to the hangars. No one is to leave while Uram designates our destination."

Uram began working out a path as the turrets began firing and the Phantoms did a 180 and sped back to the hangars. Not all of them made it, though; five were shot down as strange vessels came close and bombarded them with plasma cannons.

"Blast it, Uram, hurry up! Covenant lives are at stake!" Shen snapped, his courtesy forgotten in his worry.

"I'm trying, sir! But we picked the worst spot to slip into! There are many gravitic interferences to work out!" Uram said, working out a course at a feverish pace.

As he spoke, a _Reverence_-class cruiser exploded, its shields and general hull structure overwhelmed by concentrated fire from several destroyer sized vessels armed with strange beam cannons. It was soon followed by several _CPV_-class destroyers.

Uram finally worked it out. "Got it! It's a blind course, but free of interference!"

"Good. All vessels, prepare to make the jump!" Shen commanded.

He waited a moment. Then, "Jump!"

Just as they slipped into the slipspace gates, the ship that was emitting waves suddenly lashed out with a truly enormous wave of gravity, not fast enough to stop them, as they had slipped to just the fringe, but enough to severely damage them, crippling the ships without exception.

And the Covenant militants aboard could do naught but hold on tightly as they rocketed blindly through slipspace...

* * *

Aeron Solo: _Forgive me if this chapter is not up to your expectations, but my writing style is distinctly different from Sithking Zero's. I'm doing the best I can, as I have left out my usual humor to fit in with the first chapter. Understand though, I am a stranger in a stranger's house. Thank you._


	3. Unexpected Allies

Relics of the Past

Chapter 3

Unexpected Allies...and Truths

* * *

An Elite Mover-class Utility AI construct named Jag wove through a large amount of junk. This was another part of the graveyards, very far away from the area that Shen and co. were fleeing from.

The AI lamented about how nearly all of its comrades had gone rampant, and they were now obsessed with destroying whatever came to disturb the sleep of the Karos Graveyards.

Once, the Keeper navy featured seven Keeper Dreadnoughts, one-hundred thousand Keeper Destroyers, many more Movers, even more Keeper Drones, and other vessels that were all united. Some had been destroyed, others simply aged beyond operating capacity, and still others had been captured and salvaged.

Without exception, all others had gone rampant.

Now, the coherent part of the navy was down to five keeper Destroyers, one Dreadnought, Seventy movers, an equal amount of drones, a large amount of small and large autoguns, sixteen heavy cruisers, five carriers, 17 minelayer corvettes, eighteen heavy corvettes, twenty-seven multi-gun corvettes, five support frigates, and fifteen junkyard dogs. The Destroyers and Carriers did what they could to replenish their forces, but they had limited success. All of the replacements lacked the complex intelligences that the originals had.

The Mover paused as several large vessels suddenly dropped out of hyperspace, extremely heavily damaged. Curious, the mover, true to its namesake, moved in for a better look, gliding gently around the vessels.

It immediately saw signs that these vessels had battled against its former comrades, as some of the damaged vessels had taken a type of damage exclusive only to Keeper-destroyer class Ion Cannons. It also noted that a large amount of Mover/Drone plasma fire had scorched many of the hulls of the ships, despite, it noticed, Keeper-destroyer class shielding tech.

Now the Mover was very interested. It was obvious that whatever these vessels were, they had been based off of Progenitor technology. It immediately alerted its comrades as to the presence of the vessels, and to come repair their superstructures.

Many Movers, Drones, and what Junkyard Dogs that were left flooded out of the surrounding wreckage, just as curious as their comrade. They immediately set to repairing the damage their rampant counterparts had dealt.

* * *

**Meanwhile, on the Covenant Vessels:**

Shen nearly jumped in fright when he saw the Progenitor vessels. "Now what?" he asked. "We barely survived that last one!"

Tui studied them. "Shen, they don't seem to be the same as the other ones," he said.

La twisted around to "look" at Shen. "They seem rather curious rather than aggressive."

Shen was a bit skeptical, but that turned into amazement when a number of Junkyard dogs brought junk from the surrounding wreckage and then disintegrated it into small particles that attached themselves to the battle-damaged hulls of their vessels, completely erasing any trace that they had been there. A bunch of movers came around and fired concentrated beams of plasma, welding areas where the hull had been torn open back into one cohesive whole.

A single mover came around and hovered in front of the bridge, its sensor eye facing them. A hush came across everyone on board.

_Greetings all. I am Elite Mover 117, also known as Jag. You can call me that if you wish._ The mover transmitted. _Can we start off with your introductions?_

Shen managed to find his voice. "Elite?"

_Oh. Sorry. You may have noticed a series of pulsing energy lines across my hull. Those indicate that I am superior to regular movers, and can order my fellow constructs around, unless they are destroyer or larger._

Sure enough, Shen did notice the seams between each armor plate emitting a nimbus of blue energy. Unlike the ones he had seen before, these movers were marked blue instead of red.

_So, can you please introduce yourself?_ Jag asked.

"My name is Shen. I am in command of this vessel." Shen quickly introduced the rest of the crew.

_You have many questions swirling in your head, Commander Shen._ Jag noted.

Startled, Shen asked, "What?"

_You seem to have had a bad run in with our rampant comrades._ Jag said. _And that run in made you cautious. Yet, why are we helping you? What is going on here? So many questions. And I believe I can answer most, if not all._

_We are the last of the coherent AI that once made up the vast and powerful Progenitor Keeper Navy. The Progenitors died out long ago due to the activation and firing of all seven Halo Rings in their last-ditch attempt to stop the Flood._

Salvo looked up. "Eh? What's that? Whaddaya mean the rings killed 'em off? I thought that they were supposed to take us on some stupid "Great Journey"?"

_No. May I be so wise as to ask how in the universe you came to that idea?_

So they told them of the Covenant faith. Jag listened, and then asked, _Is there a text format?_

Shen held up his copy of the Covenant "Bible". Jag scanned it, only speaking to ask him to flip the page.

Jag sighed after he had finished. _You have a false religion, I'm afraid._ His comment was met with shocked silence. _Several times it uses the word reclaimer in the place of reclamation. Your entire faith is based off of a mistranslation, and several misunderstandings._

_First, the Halo Rings. The Halo Rings are not sacred artifacts meant to take people on a Great Journey once activated. They are superweapons that wipe out all sentient life strong enough to support the Flood within the blast radius. Firing one will fire them all, and only a Forerunner can activate them._

_Second, the humans. The humans are actually descendants of the Forerunners, a chosen species to inherit the legacy of the Forerunners. This means that, now that Forerunners have all gone extinct, they _are _the Forerunners. You have declared genocide on the very people that you worship. How depressing is that?_

_Third,humans are also known as Hiigarans in this galaxy. The Hiigarans have recently risen to their former power. So, in this case, the Forerunners are the prominent species in this galaxy. You wish to wage war on them? You'd have a lot of trouble on your hands. They are almost as advanced as you are at weaponry, and they are nearly unmatched in the art of warfare. What is more, they have access to a powerful Hyperspace Core, capable of traversing entire solar systems in a matter of minutes._

Salvo scoffed. "We've got slipspace travel too! What makes theirs special?"

_A hyperspace core is more powerful than you realize. Yes, you have slipspace generators. Yes, you can traverse solar systems in minutes. But what you do not realize is that the core can take other vessels along with it for the ride._

The Covenant listened in awe as Jag told them _exactly_ what a core could do.

_A hyperspace core can deliver power to an entire mothership and jump a whole fleet from one side of the galaxy to the other in minutes. The trio of them could deliver power to the one and only Sajuuk Super Dreadnought. That same power could then be used for the Sajuuk main cannon, capable of tearing through, say, your supercruiser in three shots. I doubt that you could match its firepower._

Jag swiveled around. _Any more questions?_

Shen sighed, dismayed by these new revelations. "And the Great Journey? Is that also...not what we believe it to be?"

_Yes, it is as I have said. The "Great Journey" is short for the "Great Journey to the Afterlife". It is nothing more than death._

Jag took a look at the sullen faces of the Covenant expedition. _The Great Journey _you_ speak of is nothing more than one for the dead, but there is a Great Journey for the living as well._ The Covenant listened with rapt attention as Jag explained.

_Your prophets saw diagrams of ring-shaped constructs, correct? Then they saw the Halo Rings and mistook them for the ones meant to take them on the Great Journey. The real rings are actually a large network of Hyperspace Gates that connect several galaxies to each other, and span within the same galaxies even, allowing one to journey from one place to the next with great speed. Each galaxy connected is highly advanced in its own right, and each one hides its own cache of Progenitor constructions, or Forerunner if you will, each one as advanced as the next. Should one being collect all these constructs..._Jag's voice trailed off as he let his audience realize his implications.

Shen correctly interpereted this, and said, "Then it would truly make that being close to being a deity, if not as powerful."

_Correct. However, there are complications to this. One of them is that only two hyperspace cores have been found. One must have _three_hyperspace cores to activate the mighty Sajuuk. And even if the third core can be found, what of the other two holders? It would be folly to attack them. The Bentusi are the most technologically advanced race in this galaxy that still exists. Their tradeships have immense raw power at their disposal, and strike craft like none other. The other, the Hiigarans, well, you've heard me._

Shen sighed. "Well, is there any way that we could acquire this final Hyperspace Core?"

_I have no idea. There isn't a way that I know of, since it was lost a very long time ago._

Shen groaned and paced, pondering. All his comrades decided not to question him; they recognized that he was thinking.

Finally, Shen stopped. "At any rate, we're not going to be able to go back to our home galaxy. We have not achieved our objective, acquiring Forerunner constructs. And now that we have this new knowledge, we would be accused of heresy and sentenced to death. The only way we can go back is if we went back with proof."

He looked at Jag. "I don't have any hold on you, Jag. I know you are under no obligation to help me. But please, can you help us?"

Jag flew off and conferred with his comrades. There was a lot of "nodding" and motions that made it seem like they were having a lively discussion. Finally, Jag came back and said, _We don't have anything better to do. One thing, however; you must share our knowledge with the Hiigarans. This is their birthright; they are the most deserving of their legacy._

Shen nodded. "Agreed." He paused. "I'd shake your hand, but I don't know if it's possible..."

_Oh, no. That's perfectly fine. _Jag replied cheerfully.

Shen paced again, wondering where the Third Core could be. "Jag, when was the last time the third Core was recorded to have being seen?"

Jag went off and conferred with his comrades for a moment. Then, _We're not quite sure. The Foundry shattered a very long time ago, and many of those who escorted it have gone rampant. The destroyers may know, but it will take some time to find out._

Shen watched as Jag flew off. He sighed wearily. _Only my first day, and already I'm exhasusted._

Tui turned. "Shen, what'll happen now?"

Shen faced him. "We devote everything we can to finding the core. We simply do what we can in this galaxy."

"And if that isn't enough? What then?" La asked.

Shen faced her. "I don't know La. I don't know. One thing's for sure, though; we're not going back."

A movement by the navigation station suddenly caught his eye. He whirled, and saw a seemingly human teenager in green robes, a strange white coat, and a daito sheathed at his waist. He had jet-black hair and eyes of emerald. The boy jammed something into the terminal, and then it suddenly projected a view of the entire galaxy next to him.

Without so much as a twitch of alarm, Salvo whipped out a Plasma Pistol and snapped off an overcharged shot.

To their astonishment, the boy caught the bolt and crushed it in his hand, snuffing out the plasma without so much as a cry of pain. The human then locked eyes with Shen. Neither spoke.

The teen smiled slightly and gestured, a small spray of ice floating from his hand to a certain location and circling it, highlighting it with a circle of light. Then, a breeze blew through the bridge and he faded into it, vanishing like a ghost.

No one moved an inch, still staring at where the boy had been. Then Shen went up and looked at the area. "Jag?" he asked.

Jag instantly came back. _Yes, Commander Shen?_

"Just Shen is okay. Where's this?" he asked pointing to the area the teen had pointed out. Although the ice had faded away, the circle was still there.

Jag studied the diagram, seemingly amazed. _Where did you get that location from?_

"A human boy came out of nowhere and pointed it out to us. Tell me, where is that?"

_That area is called the Hethlim Ice Fields. It's a remote area of the galaxy that no one ever goes to. Its immensely dangerous, as there is so much ice that maneuvering would be a huge trouble. Colliding into five, ten, or maybe even fifteen mid-size chunks may not be too much trouble. But seven thousand every second? Not exactly desireable. And no offense or anything, but your vessels aren't exactly ballerinas._

Shen frowned. This was going to be more difficult than he imagined. "What could we do?"

_There are many ways to solve this problem. One would be to simply blast away the ice, but our combined firepower may not be enough for that. Besides, simply hitting the ice with plasma and such would result in the water almost instantly being refrozen, therefore requiring kinetic weaponry to shatter the ice so each individual fragment would not be able to do much. Another would be to develop special maneuverable vessels meant just for retrieving stuff that's floating in space. This we could help you with._

"How?"

_A quick study of your vessels shows that you have no vessels that have quick construction technology. This galaxy makes use of Phased Disassembler Arrays to break down matter into RUs, which can then be shaped into anything you want. Then it's only a matter of assembling the parts. It takes a much shorter amount of time to make units; one could effectively make an entire fleet in a mere hour._

"And this was of Forerunner origin?" Shen asked, awed.

_Yes. It was._

Just then, a bleep emitted from the comm console, startling everyone.

Shen jogged over and read the panel. "This is a Covenant channel..." he murmured, frowning.

He scowled when he read the message. "Brutes," he muttered, reading it through.

_All Vaygr vessels in the area, fall back to sector 195 of the Hethlim system. We will regroup at the ice fields._

_Vaygr? _Shen inquired.

"It means "Covenant" in the old Brute texts," Shen said. He pondered this for a few moments. _How did Brutes end up in this galaxy?_ he wondered.

"Tui?" he asked aloud.

"Yes, Shen?" Tui asked, turning to face him.

"Have other Covenant expeditions gone before this?" Shen asked.

Tui thought for a moment. "I'm not sure. They might've, but all the same..."

"It makes sense, though," Salvo spoke up, drawing everyone's attention. "This is supposed to be a suicide mission, right?" Everyone murmurred in agreement. "Why would they trust us with such a vital mission unless they knew it was suicidal? And on that note, how did they know it was suicidal? Someone must've gone before and never came back."

Shen paused. "Jag, Tui, La, does this seem at all likely?"

_His logic is without flaw. There are absolutely no arguements._ Jag said, eyeing Salvo thoughtfully.

Tui and La nodded in sync. "Salvo's right. By that manner of thinking, it all makes sense."

"And the High Prophets are trusting the Brutes more and more these days..." Shen said thoughtfully, fitting another piece of the puzzle into place. "Then again, why didn't they assign any Brutes to this expedition?"

"Precisely what you said- they trust the Brutes more. While we presumeably die on this expedition, all of the Brutes are given high positions and such to replace you Elites, as they did say that the Sangheili failed to guard Regret," La pointed out.

Shen growled. "San 'Shyuum b*******," he cursed under his breath. "Never liked them, and I never will."

Shen sighed again. "While I have no fondness for Brutes, they ARE Covenant. As such, it is our duty, however reluctant we are to perform it, to help them. Besides, a few extra hands might be needed in combat."

He turned to Jag once more. "Jag, can you take us to the Hethlim Ice Fields? Our slipspace generators are still damaged, and you hinted that in this galaxy ships can take others along for the ride."

_Of course. We will assist you in retrieving the Third Core,_ Jag promised.

Jag communicated with a Keeper destroyer, and turned back and said, _Keeper Destroyers Yorik-006 and Sanhail-002 will accompany us, along with Carrier Inga-009 to make the neccessary vessels_.

"Right. Now..." he gestured to Kardas, who opened a channel to the rest of the convoy.

"Attention all Covenant. We will be departing for a region known as the Hethlim Ice Fields, to find a supposed Brute convoy." he heard a collective groan from the Covenant, and he couldn't help but be sympathetic; Brutes were not exactly well loved by the branches of the Covenant on this convoy. Grunts were terribly afraid of Brutes, Hunters were disdainful of any species besides the Elites, and there wasn't exactly any love to lose between Brutes and Elites. "Yes, I know, I'm not too happy about it either, but if the Prophets find out that we let them die, they won't rest until they have our heads."

"Furthermore, we may be able to recover a special Forerunner relic in the Ice Fields, which the Brutes may not know about. Our job was to collect relics, and since our original target is not possible, we should go after this one. Who's with me?"

One by one, the bridge commander of every vessel in their convoy murmurred their assent, albeit reluctantly, and Shen told them that they would be piggy-backing on the Keepers' slipspace fields.

"Jag? Are we ready to depart?" Shen asked, looking at the Forerunner AI.

_We are. Yorik-006 is preparing the jump. We will be jumping in ten seconds._

After five seconds...

_Five..._

_Four..._

_Three..._

_Two..._

_One..._

_JUMP!_

Orange rectangular hyperspace windows opened up in front of the capital-class vessels, pulling over them and whisking them to an area solar systems away...

* * *

**Aeron Solo: **_Okay, I know I'm being a bit abrupt with this, but hey. I am who I am, and there's no changing that._

_Also, to any who wonder about my bringing Brutes into the story...that'll be explained soon._

_Also, I know you guys are going to notice that my OC from my other stories made a cameo, yet critical appearance here. If you have any complaints as to why I'm putting a main character in who can bend space and time with a mere thought...I'm not. Really. He's going to appear several times throughout the story, but only to assist the main cast. You might say he's our main cast's Bentusi counterpart, as they provided assistance to the Hiigarans at times._

_If you have any complaints/questions, you know what to do. Thank you._


	4. Hethlim Ice Fields

Relics of the Past

Chapter 4

The Third Core

* * *

**Hethlim Ice Fields:**

Numbers of vessels that were decorated with black and white stripes and some red components were busy fighting off a heavy force of Progenitor relics. The relics had sustained few losses, yet the striped vessels were almost routed.

Their commander, a Jiralhanae chieftain warlord by the name of Makaan, thought, _Why? Why do the Forerunners attack us? Why? It is simply unthinkable!_

He and his convoy had been sent to the Balcora Spiral, the name of the galaxy, some time ago by the Prophets to search for the artifacts revealed by Alpha Halo. However, the relics had attacked them, forcing them to retreat. Since then, they had to pirate several technologies from the natives of the galaxy, struck an alliance with the Taidan Imperialist remnant and gained use of the PDA (Phased Dissassembler array) to rebuild their fleets…except they didn't have a single blueprint with them, and while they understood their ships enough to maintain the major systems, they couldn't actually build any of them. So, they had still been pondering this when Makaan had decided to forget about all of the Covenant's fancy stuff and employ traditional Brute tech that they knew they could rely on, as well as researching more weaponry. Thus, heavy versions of the Spiker were employed as anti-fighter weapons, and Taidan scientists managed to come up with Heavy Fusion missiles. The frames of all the vessels were not as ornate as the other vessels, as they wasted no space on fancy decoration. Nor was there anything for defense; the general hull structure was what held up against attacks.

All and all, they had managed to hold up fairly well…until they had stumbled upon a massive slipspace signature that they tried to investigate, but the Keepers had been guarding it and had attacked relentlessly, which had resulted in their current situation. The Brutes had fought bravely, but they had slowly been driven into a corner.

Makaan was beginning to lose hope when numerous blue-white and orange slipspace portals opened up nearby.

_What is this?_ He wondered. The blue-white signatures looked suspiciously like Covenant slipspace gates, but that was impossible…unless the Prophets had sent aid!

Hope shot through Makaan, and he saw the gates pull back to reveal Covenant vessels…and Forerunner AI.

Almost as quickly as it came, Makaan's hope was blown away with fear and suspicion. He jumped as a communications signal came through on his panel. A viewscreen opened, and to his disgust it was an Elite standing there.

"Jiralnahae convoy, this is Sangheili fleet master Shen V'Klek and the Covenant exploration fleet. We're here to save your sorry behinds from the mess you've gotten into."

Makaan activated his own transmitter. "Covenant Exploration fleet, this is Fleet master Makaan of the flagship _Valiant Voyager_. Your intervention is most welcome, fleet master, but I would appreciate it if you do not antagonize my crew."

Shen shrugged. "I don't care much for you Brutes, but I think we can agree that we have more problems at hand than each other."

Makaan nodded. "Agreed." There was a small pause. "If I may be so impertinent as to ask, why exactly are you in the company of Forerunner AI?"

"These AI have not gone rampant, and they have agreed to help us."

"Ah." There was another pause. "I'm sorry to rush you, Fleet Master V'Klek, but we are losing badly. We require assistance against the Rampant AI."

Shen nodded. "Very well." He turned and said, "Jag, do you read?"

_We read loud and clear, Shen._ A strange voice thrummed through the area. It was almost as if an entire ship was speaking.

"Ask your allies to attack the rampant AI. Tactics are up to you."

_Understood._

Shen nodded to Makaan. "We are linking our comm grid to yours. Until it is appropriate for face-to-face communications to open again, this is farewell, Fleet Master."

Makaan nodded in return. "Until then, V'Klek."

The screen closed.

* * *

**Bridge of the **_**Path of the Wanderer**_**:**

Shen opened up a channel to the entire convoy. "All capital ships, lock your energy projectors onto the Rampant AI capital ships without any friendlies in the way and after I say so, fire a single salvo. Then use your plasma torpedoes as you see fit. Fighters, chase down the Corvette-class vessels, then join the main fight when there are none left. Vaygr vessels, move out of our line of fire."

All vessels hurried to comply with his orders. The Vaygr fled toward the convoy for all they were worth, careful to stay away from the destroyers. The heavy capital ships locked onto several Heavy Cruisers, frigates, and Keeper Destroyers and waited for the firing order. As soon as the last Vaygr was out of the way, Shen gave the order. "FIRE!"

Space was lanced through with the destructive power of several Energy projectors, smashing roughly a fifth of the fleet away.

"Commence firing of Plasma Torpedoes!" Shen shouted, and the area the Energy projectors had just fired through was soon filled with Plasma torpedoes. The Progenitor AI faltered as another sixth of their forces went down, then they regrouped and returned fire with Ion cannons, heavily damaging several Covenant cruisers.

Several friendly Progenitor Drones flew with the Covenant strike craft in between the deadly firepower of the main vessels to attack head on.

* * *

**Elite Progenitor Drone Kairo-87:**

Kairo turned his plasma cannons on. _Lock onto the nearest of our fallen, _he ordered the rest of his attack squad.

Kairo and his drones wheeled away and converged on the rampant Keeper destroyer from different directions, burning away armor plating and fusing circuits, disabling all of the troublesome pulsar cannons.

Kairo noticed several drones converging on him from the rear, powering up their plasma cannons to attack him where he was weakest. _Not going to happen, _Kairo vowed.

Kairo abruptly stopped in space, stopped a series of tractor beams coming online across his hull locking onto several large objects at once and bringing him to a halt. He turned his engines to maximum power, causing the drive trail to project backwards like a beam of plasma, vaporizing all of the unfortunate drones.

Kairo released his hold on a number of the objects, focusing on a single Fallen Keeper Destroyer. He angled the force of his engines slightly, and orbitted the destroyer, firing his guns with as much power as he could spare without burning out the weapons.

_Jag, we need assistance,_ Kairo said.

_Stand by; Sanhail and Inga are projecting a Gravity Well to keep them from fleeing,_ Jag informed him.

Moments later, a gravity field sprang up, snaring an unfortunate keeper who decided to hyperspace out at that moment. The hyperdrive engines backfired and exploded, and the backlash tore the ship to pieces.

Kairo felt a twinge of regret. It wasn't easy to destroy his former comrades. But it had to be done, so he had to do it.

He noticed that a single Covenant Destroyer had separated from the main group, and that it was powering up its energy projectors, plasma torpedoes, and every other weapon on its surface, and focusing on a single enemy cruiser that seemed to leading the group of Rampants. Scans indicated that all power that the ship could spare was being focused into the weapons, indicating that the ship's captain had commanded the crew to forgo all defense for the chance to send the enemy into disarray.

Kairo pointed this out to his fellows. _We must distract the Rampants,_ he told them.

All Progenitor strike craft suddenly wheeled away from what they were doing and formed a massive swarm that blew withering fire in the direction of the cluster the destroyer intended to attack. Alone, none of the weapons never would've stood a chance, but combined into numbers of several hundred, that was quite enough to take out even a destroyer with a single volley. The attack pattern blew two Rampant Destroyers to pieces, and vaporized many hundreds of strike craft.

The cluster paused, and then turned its attention to the swarm and returned fire, scoring the hulls of some of the drones with pulsar beam fire. Kairo felt an ion cannon scorch his hull slightly, but the damage wasn't critical; the bulk of it had missed.

Kairo and his fellows wheeled around the cluster, shooting from every direction. The vessels strained to take them down, and failed to notice their doom creeping up on them.

_Now!_ Kairo commanded, and all of the strike craft peeled away. The destroyer took the hint, and less than a second later opened up with all guns flashing. All of its destructive power smashed through the central cruiser. The capital ship erupted in a massive explosion that either vaporized the surrounding vessels outright or scarred the hulls of the others.

Shen saw this from the _Path of the Wanderer._ "Ship Master Kedim'ee, how fares your vessel?"

A hologram of Shen's fellow Sangheili appeared on the comm console. "Most of our weapons have badly overheated; two of the energy projectors have been fried from the backlash of the Alpha Strike. We will be able to fight, but it will be a short while before we can rejoin the battle."

Shen frowned. "I warned you against using such a reckless strike, shipmaster. If it weren't for the results, you would be expecting a fairly large punishment. As is, you must pull your destroyer back into our lines while you finish the repairs to your weapons."

"Understood, Fleet Master." Kedim'ee signed off.

Shen turned to Jag. "Jag, please ask your brethren to give Kedim'ee some cover fire."

_Already done,_ Jag informed him. Kairo and his flight swarmed around the destroyer and forced enemy vessels to retreat.

Suddenly, a drone blazed over to Jag and communicated with a frantic series of blips and frequencies. Jag listened in growingly visible horror. _What?_

"Jag, what's wrong?" Shen asked, alarmed at this sudden turn of events.

_This isn't good,_ Jag replied, turning towards him. Before he could say anything, however, a massive cruiser began drawing white-hot power to power lines running to a main cannon in the front of the hull. A short line of power projected in front of the cannon as the energy ran to it, and soon it turned into a full-blown blast of raw destructive power that tore straight through the shields of five CCS class covenant cruisers, seven destroyers besides, and several allied frigates.

"What in the name of-?" Shen yelled in stunned horror, momentarily losing his composure. This reaction was mirrored by the entire fleet; everyone was quite horrified by the sudden turn of events.

"This isn't good," Shen noted as the powerful vessel powered up a second shot, pointing directly at a whole line of allied vessels.

_Shieldships, block the Phased Cannon Array!_ they heard over the comm channels. Multiple frigate-sized vessels flew in the path of the beam and projected energy shields directly in front of them, layering about thirty shields in front. The cannon flared again, lighting up the energy shields with raw untamed force. The shields turned bright red, showing their low power, but they held against it.

_Shieldships, what is your status?_ Jag asked.

_OUR-djkrlcxnbrmdfsgldw-HaVe bEEn-pbreolsfrc. WE-skkknmlgcdjwxgsknmsblgjdfzjkg._ The transmission was heavily garbled. Jag sighed. _Their communication must have been fried from the backlash of supplying so much power to the shields. I have no way of knowing._

Shen looked at the vessel. "Is there any weakness to that monsrosity?"

_One. It's slow speed prevents it from destroying strike craft. We could try to overload the power lines; it would almost definitely disable the cannon._

"Right." Shen moved to the comm. "Seraphs, close in on that monstrosity from the sides. Aim for the power lines, and hit them with everything you have!"

Seraphs came in on either side of the cruiser, firing at the lines that carried power to the main cannon. The cruiser fired at them with several kinetic guns, but they didn't do well against the fighters' shields. However, several keeper-class destroyers had joined the fight, and were launching drones and firing with their pulsar guns, destroying some of the fighters.

"Cruisers, cover the Seraphs!" Shen ordered. The convoy soon responded by opening fire on the keeper destroyers with their energy projectors. The Brutes launched Heavy Fusion missiles from their heaviest capital ships and opened fire with their newest creation-the Trinity Cannon, mounted in the front of their battlecruisers, which delivered three heavy laser pulses that unloaded massive punishment into whatever they hit. They took out a couple destroyers, but the main rampant fleet had joined the fight to protect their cruisers.

Makaan's capital ships began launching primitive seeming strike craft to aid the Seraphs. Bomber-type craft launched plasma bombs to burn through the hulls of the lower-level capital ships, and delivered precision strikes to the power lines. Others lashed out with plasma lances to nail rampant movers and drones, and other corvette-class vessels. Corvettes equiped with lasers and missiles harassed larger vessels. But there were just too many AI to deal with; for every one they took out, fifteen more were there to take its place.

Shen slammed his fist down on a table. "Blast; is there any way to win?"

_Eeeeeeen..._

Shen suddenly noticed three green lines of light gathering into a sphere, soon joined by three more, and followed by a third set.

Makaan's face appeared on the holoscreen. "Fleetmaster, what is that disturbance?"

"I have no idea," Shen replied. He watched as the whirling lines enlarged the sphere, until it flashed with a raw power unlike any they had ever seen.

_ZOOOWWWWWWWWWWW!_

The sphere turned into a massive blast of unknown power that surged at the rampant AI, tearing through vessel after vessel, vaporizing hulls of capital ships on contact, completely overwhelming every defense the rogue progenitor AI could muster. The massive vessel that they had encountered was blown offline, but remained intact. The rampant progenitors fled, fleeing from the system.

All eyes turned to the source of the attack: a human teenager garbed in green robes and had a daito at his waist standing upon a massive block of ice.

Shen looked at him. _You!_ he thought.

The teenager looked straight at Shen and made a brief salute. Then he gestured toward the ice fields, and a wind with ice particles blew past him, and he went with it, disappearing without a trace.

"...okay, what exactly just happened?" Salvo asked.

"I don't know, Salvo," Shen replied. "All I know is that we have a new task on hand."

All turned towards the ice fields, where the prize that they had come for lay.

* * *

**Aeron Solo: **_Okay, this chapter kind of sucked, personally, but I was in a rush. I know a lot of you were waiting, so I kind of wanted to get this out there. Yeah, this will also explain how Makaan gets his hands on a Dreadnought. Also, as you've noticed, my OC makes a little appearance, and he is strong, isn't he? _

_Any suggestions you guys have for me will be welcome, as I don't always have time to generate my own thoughts. I need inspiration, see, so I want fresh ideas to spark some of my own. Thank you._

_Aeron Solo wuz here_


	5. Strategy

Relics of the Past

Chapter V

Strategy

___

* * *

_

**Aeron Solo's Secret Base: Terra HQ**

All was quiet in the portal room. The room held about twenty-one portals, twenty were each assigned to a different world, and one to parts unknown.

That "one" was now active, generating a time-space rift. A "human teenager" exited this rift, and gestured, closing the portal.

The teenager walked over to the doorway, and leaned against it, and blew out a sigh. _____Man, I hate outer space,_ he thought to himself.

This "human teenager" was named Aeron. And he was no "human teenager". He's actually much, much older than about 99.999999999999999 percent of the population of the

Aeron sighed and slumped against the floor. Next time, I'm going in a spaceship,he thought to himself. Aeron was more than capable of sustaining himself in the cold vacuum of space, but he hated it. It wasn't easy, and he preferred to breathe air naturally.

He stood up and stretched. _Well, the important thing is that Shen and company will get the core_, he thought to himself. _And I hope they do, because if that Makaan fellow gets that thing, things will take a turn for the worse. A very, very bad turn._

Aeron opened the door and walked down the hall, stopping at before one particular door. He knocked softly three times.

There was no answer.

Aeron smiled and pushed the door open, quietly slipping inside. He silently closed the door behind him, and then turned back around.

Lying on the bed was a pretty girl with red-orange hair, seeming about Aeron's apparent age. A soft blue blanket was draped over her slender frame, and her eyes were closed peacefully in sleep. Aeron walked over and sat on the bed, watching the gentle rise and fall of the girl's chest in the rhythmic pattern of one who was sound asleep.

Aeron did this for a couple minutes, then lifted off the blanket. His hands went down to her side, and he began tickling her. The girl smiled dreamily for a moment, then she began to curl up as if trying to shake it off. Then she began to giggle, which slowly grew in volume, until her giggles turned into full-blown laughter. Aeron mercilessly tickled her for a few more minutes while she laughed helplessly before ending it and letting her catch her breath.

"Wakey, wakey, sleeping beauty," Aeron said while the girl sat up.

The girl playfully smacked him in response and, in mock anger, said "You jerk! I was having a good dream, too!"

Aeron smirked and replied, "Well, I thought I would wake you up since you apparently overslept, since it's about eleven in the morning."

"Oh, yes," the girl agreed with utter sarcasm. "Me, oversleep, when I didn't want to wake up till about one o'clock PM!"

Aeron chuckled. "Well, there's nothing you can do about it now, is there?"

The girl smiled and shook her head. "Not while you, mister," she said, playfully jabbing a finger in his chest, "are around."

The girl's name was Hanna. While Aeron was really old himself, she was even older. But only by half a year, literally. By which is meant that she and Aeron were born exactlysix months apart from each other, down to the last millisecond. She and Aeron were good friends from the start, but there was something neither of them had cared to admit to the other until about, chronologically, five hundred years ago. Sometime in the twenty-first century. And as we all know, Halo and stuff takes place in roughly the 26th century.

What was it they were too afraid to say to each other?

_They liked each other!_

**GASP!**

So yeah. About five hundred years before, Aeron and Hanna finally revealed their feelings for each other, and, after a huge mess of Aeron dying and then reincarnating but forgetting everything and having to save the world (again) while at the same time reclaiming his lost memories, the two finally got together and became a couple. No more has to be said about their history until it becomes neccessary.

Hanna sighed and got out of bed. "So, how did it go?"

"What do you mean?" Aeron asked, pretending he didn't know what she was talking about.

Hanna smiled as she took off her bedclothes and changed into something more appropriate for going outside. "Oh come on, I woke up about half an hour ago and you weren't in bed, and your Zanpakuto was nowhere to be found. I even looked for your APW and your shoes, for cripe's sake!"

Aeron sighed and held up his hands in mock surrender. "Guilty as charged. Please, o beautiful one, spare me."

Hanna laughed, a sweet sound comparable to crystal bells chiming in the wind (not in the actual sound; just the sweetness), and kissed Aeron on the cheek. "You flatter me too much."

Aeron shrugged. "What can I do about it? If I said the opposite you'd get out the Rainmaker and shoot me a thousand times with it."

Hanna grinned, and patted him on the cheek. "You're a smart man." The Rainmaker, or rather, the Type-101 Handheld Artillery, was a brutal weapon that was capable of firing rocket or any sort of explosives in rapid succession. It was called the Rainmaker because Hanna tended to use it with regular explosives, firing upward...and then they came back down, raining down upon their targets like nothing else could ever do so. It was a devastating weapon already, and Hanna's use of it turned into a WMD, although that is only used in the sense of the battlefield. Hanna would never level a city unless it became absolutely neccessary.

"All right, all right," Aeron conceded. "The mission went perfectly well. I was able to save them from imminent destruction, albeit it wasn't much of a challenge."

Hanna gave him a half-amused, half-admonishing look. "Come on, you of all people should know that trying to stop you with material power is like trying to stop a rhino with a sheet of paper!"

Aeron looked a bit sheepish. "I guess you're right," he admitted, taking out a coupon book and rifling through it.

Hanna noticed this. She poked her head over his shoulder and asked, "What are you doing?"

Aeron answered her with a question. "Want to grab a pizza at Pizza Hut?"

Hanna shrugged. "I'm game."

"Yay! I like Pizza Hutt!" a teenager that seemed to be related in some way to Aeron, as he was nearly identical if not for blue wherever there was green, and silver wherever there was gold, and midnight blue hair rather than black. He also had headphones.

"No one asked you," Aeron retorted, pushing him away.

"Aaaaah!" the teen said lamely as he flew back through a space-time portal that he had made just to intrude on their conversation.

"Well, shall we go?" Aeron asked, offering Hanna his arm.

Hanna slipped her arm through his and smiled. "Sure."

* * *

**Location: Makaan's Flagship, Hethlim Ice Fields**

"The Elites are cunning. Too cunning."

Makaan was pacing before a series of holo-projectors linking him to the various Shipmasters in his fleet. "If we do not act carefully, we will be slaughtered. And if we allow them to acquire the core, they might even regain the prophets' favor."

Makaan did a one-eighty and paced the other way. "We cannot allow that to happen. We MUST ensure that we get the core, and are able to keep it. Whatever it takes. These Elites may seem friendly now, but remember what they have done to our race over the centuries."

Makaan took a glance at the face of stone of his second-in-command, the commander of the biggest warship in the Vaygr Armada. "That includes you, Socius."

"But, sir, wouldn't an alliance with the Elites be more profitable in the long run?" Socius argued. "Remember, our specialty is ground combat, commander, and we are not well suited for space-combat on this scale."

Makaan paused. "You are right, of course," he admitted. "The Elites ARE quite "elite" in space combat. Perhaps they could teach us a few tricks if we let them live."

Then he turned again. "Then again, in the long run, letting the Elites live would bring shame upon us to the rest of our race, and we will lose favor to the prophets. Perhaps we only need let a couple live...as prisoners."

He looked disdainfully at Socius. "I dislike your tolerance of the Elites, Socius. They are our blood enemies, and we cannot allow the wrongs of the past to go unavenged."

Socius gave a sigh of resignment and dipped his head. "Very well. What must we do, Fleetmaster?"

Makaan turned to face all the holograms, or at least as many as he could face at a time. "Here is the plan..."

* * *

The door to the comm room opened, and Socius stormed out in a fury.

"How dare he backstab the Elites?" he muttered, his eyes absolutely terrible with rage. "Turn on they who came to our aid in the hour of greatest need! Is it truly any wonder that the Elites harbor a dislike for the Brutes?"

Socius' subordinates saw him in his anger, and quickly left the area. When Socius was angry, he usually needed some alone time to sort his thoughts out. He never took his anger out on his subordinates, but he was a little more aggressive when he was angry when giving his orders. It was often best to leave him alone for a small while.

Socius stalked off to his own quarters and closed the door. He went to his full combat pack and fished around for a certain object. After a few moments of searching, he found it: an energy sword, with a pair of strange crystal-blue focusing crystals on either end of the hilt. It was not natural for an energy sword to have these; these had been added by Socius himself, for his friend.

Socius sighed. _What can I do, my friend?_ he wondered, as he stared at the Energy Sword.

Socius had always had a liking for the Elites. While others had scoffed at the Elites and belittled them at every chance they got, he alone had been fascinated by them, and had got his hands on every scrap of information about them that he could. Socius could even speak their native language, which delighted many of them, although they often commented that he had a rough accent. Socius was well liked by the Elites...for a Brute. No one found him perfect, but the Elites found him to be the most trustworthy out of their blood enemy. He never wasted anyone's lives, and he always put his life on the line before he put those of others. And because he was well acquainted with Elite battle tactics, he could communicate to them what he needed extremely efficiently, in the small times when he and Elites were paired together. Quite a few Elites owed their lives to him, as his superiors often wanted to waste their lives in a suicidal, foolish tactic, while he disobeyed orders and took the pounding for it in exchange for the preservation of around ninety percent of the forces that would have been wasted, a detail that was not lost on the Elites.

And now...he was asked to turn on the race that he admired for his entire life, and had even endured many, many punishments for their sake. What could be worse?

It was worse than anyone thought. See, Socius had one secret detail that only some of those under hiscommand knew: Socius' best friend had been Elite. An Elite who died protecting Socius from his own race's wrath for one of the worst social crimes a Brute could commit: being friends with an Elite.

Sucks, huh?

Socius sighed. _What should I do, Thaer?_ he wondered, looking up at the ceiling of his quarters, as if looking for the face of his friend. _What would you do here?_

Socius had been devastated by Thaer's death at the hands of his own, and many in their company mourned; Thaer was well liked by the Brutes in their company, as he was to the Brutes as Socius was to the Elites. Only, the Brutes were far more conservative, evidenced by his final stand. Socius had flung himself tirelessly into mission after mission, almost as if trying to follow his friend's path, the Sangheili way: an honorable death in battle. It was only after Socius had been promoted to major that he realized that he couldn't do that. It was pointless, as he could help the Elites more alive than dead. Thus started his quest to improve the Brute attitude toward Elites. Slowly, but surely, those under his command could at least work with Elites, and in time that developed into grudging respect.

There was one more thing to note: his flagship, the Sword of Aether, was named in Thaer's memory.

Now that the flagship has been mentioned, we may as well talk about it. The Sword of Aetherwas not named without cause; that ship is the biggest, most heavily armed, armored, and definitely the most advanced of any vessel in the Vaygr armada.

First, armaments: the Sword of Aether was armed with more point-defense laser turrets and rapid-fire flechette cannons than one could count; one 6-sequence dual-launch port Heavy Fusion Missile launcher, by which is meant that both tubes cycle out six missiles in one salvo, and then reloading them all after a short while; a weapon taken from the Hiigarans: the Torpedo, with eight launch ports, and each torpedo could split into six smaller ones, or just stay whole and unleash one heck of a payload into the hull of the unfortunate vessel it got targetted by; twin tri-barreled Heavy Trinity Cannon turrets mounted one on each side, which unloaded one pulse of super-powerful laser power into the enemy vessel from each barrel, and each turret had a firing rate of one shot per second, but each barrel could only shoot three shots before they had to reload on laser gas. The upside was that each cannon shot opposite the other, which allowed the sword to shoot off two per second; another weapon was the chin-turret plasma cannon, which launched plasma torpedoes in rapid sequence for ten seconds before needing to cool for another ten; one should also be careful to note the twin-barreled forward-mounted double-barreled Trinity Cannons on either side, which shot at the same rate as the turret but were more powerful with every shot, which also made it overheat that much faster.

The most punishment, however, came from its best weapon: firing directly from the nose, and so large that half the vessel had to be built around it, was the Omega Energy Projector, a massively overpowered cannon that was based on the standard variant used for "ship sniping" on standard Covenant warships. While it took many shots from multiple plasma cannons to glass a planet, it took only a comparatively measley seventeen shots, each one from a different angle, for the Sword to do the same thing. As such, this made it the trump card of the Vaygr armada.

Second, defenses: The Sword of Aether was composed of the most durable alloys that they could find and research. Its hull strength was legendary, but what Socius didn't tell his superiors was that he had installed a number of shield generators that created overlapping fields of protection, effectively blocking any damage that the ship could possibly sustain. So yeah, not only could the Sword deal a ton of punishment, it could take even more.

Finally, the geeky tech stuff: Socius had purposely neglected to inform Makaan that the Sword of Aether had Graviy Well Generators, some of the best sensory equipment there was to be found, and the very best Fire Control Towers in the navy. Also added to the list of secrets were the usage of cloaking devices, and three slipspace drives, two mains and one backup in case the others failed. That, plus a very powerful engine that could allow it to reach speeds faster than the Vaygr Flagship (but, of course, were dialed down some to prevent suspicion), and exceptional repair equipment, made the Sword of Aether a science geek's dream cruiser.

Also, while the vessel had docking bays and was capable of reparing strike craft, no one let slip to anywhere off-ship that it could build vessels frigate sized and under. In short, the Sword of Aether could be considered a mothership in its own right.

Socius grimaced in sadness as he remembered Thaer's light-hearted laugh, and his happy-go-lucky attitude, his uncanny foolishness in battle, and his pure dumb (emphasis on "DUMB") luck. Thaer had been well liked in the company, and his death had been mourned. Now, because of him, Socius and his band of pro-Elite Brute followers were groing more powerful as they made more and more converts. Socius had all of his followers under his command in a small sub-fleet.

Now came time to choose:

Whose sword was The Sword of Aether to be?

* * *

Shen stared through the viewport, looking over the immense expanse of space. He looked at the Hethlim Ice fields, a challenge like no other. _What would Thaer do if he was in this situation?_

Shen remembered far too well what his younger brother was like. The young fool was reckless, and if he didn't have such luck, then he would've been dead about a thousand times.

Most Elites had a dislike for Brutes, but while most couldn't see it, Salvo, Tui, and La all knew that the hatred he felt for Brutes in general was not just because of the rivalry between their races. It was personal.

Seven years ago, while Shen was away on a mission, Thaer and his company of a mixed unit of Brutes and Elites that had been somewhat bad-boy rebels had been on guard duty. A number of older Brutes, which were very racist about the Elites and believed that no Elite should mix with Brutes, had attacked him. Shen had heard several variations of the story, each one more bizarre than the next, but the one thing he did know was true was that the moment he returned, his family had taken him to his brother's body, and had shown him a note that informed him what had happened, and assured him that all involved in the attack had been slain. He found the names of those Brutes, and curiously, all of them WERE dead. Even more strangely, they had been killed with a mix of Energy sword and Gravity hammer wounds, which suggested two things: either Thaer had taken a gravity hammer himself, or, the less likely but more logical view, Thaer had been assisted by a Brute. This was no consolation to Shen, who was grieved and enraged at the same time by his brother's death at their hands.

Shen had allowed this anger to rule him for the first few months, but then he let it die away. It was pointless, anyway; his brother was dead, and taking it out on the innocent Brutes, no matter how beastly or unlikable they were, was getting nowhere. He just locked the experience away, but he was still particularly spiteful of the Brutes.

Shen chuckled sadly. _Thaer would probably rush at the problem head on and smash his head against it,_ he thought to himself. He had a vivid image of his brother ordering for a bombardment of the ice fields, and then seeing the ice just freeze in an even more problematic formation and cursing the ice for being so uncooperative. He chuckled at the thought. _If only we could protect ourselves from the ice chunks,_ he thought. _Then we might have a chance. Damn this all; if only we had a safe passage-_

He stopped short. _Safe passage?_ Wheels began to turn in Shen's mind.

He turned. "Hey, Salvo?"

"You rang?" the Grunt asked, comically hustling around dragging an unfortunate Elite who had called him 'shorty' and paid the price with a knut shot. He had been dragging the poor guy to the infirmary when Shen had called.

"Can you find Tui and La and bring them over here? Also gather a number of random crew members," Shen said.

Salvo saluted. "Roger, Fleetmaster!" he said, and hustled on, still dragging the unconscious Elite behind him.

Shen sweatdropped. _Why must he do that?_

* * *

**Some time later...**

Shen paced in front of his comrades. "I called you all here because I need your opinion and ideas," he said.

He faced them all. "I know what you're thinking," he added. "Why must I, your Fleetmaster, consult you on this?"

Shen sighed. "You all know as well as I do that I am at least seven years younger than literally any member of our strike force. And I, unlike many of you, am still in my adolesence."

It was true. Shen had seen combat ever since he turned thirteen, and was currently twenty six. The thing was, once an Elite hits adolesence, he or she age twice as slowly as humans do, allowing them to reach ages of around two hundred years old. The advantage was that if an Elite saw enough combat during this time period, and was taught the neccessary skills, then he would become talented enough to become at least an Elite Major. Shen himself had become a Shipmaster when he was around seventeen; he was considered a prodigy by many. The downside was that...well, you know, teens sort of get mood swings. This can really damage their fighting skill if left unchecked. Shen was fairly in control of his emotions, but even he had a number of moments when he would spas out on his crew because they were being idiots, which often led to Salvo, Tui, and La having to give him their "miracle cure": an enormous bucket of ice-cold water! (Lol, totally random, but it works)

Shen continued on: "I am not as experienced as many of you, so I have to rely on you to educate me while I mature. Therefore, I ask you: can we do this?"

He projected a hologram. "This is the Hethlim Ice field." He walked around the hologram. "We are aware that the entire area is hazardous. Even the Resource Collectors that Makaan used, he told us, that went to move the ice chunks were endangered. One ice chunk often has a hundred others bouncing off of it. Makaan says that the area is inaccessible by anything."

"What would happen, then, if we tried to bore a tunnel through the ice?" Shen projected a number of Covenant vessels bombarding a fixed point on the ice continually. "We burn a tunnel straight through the ice, and create a safe zone at the end for us to bore a second tunnel. We can do this by creating a special device to repulse large objects with gravity-lift technology. The details are not quite clear as of yet, but I think it could work. Tell me: can it be done?"

There was a murmur in the crowd as they spoke with one another. One R&D Elite spoke up. "I believe we could research the device that could create the safe zone," he said. "It would not be difficult; it only uses technology we know, after all."

"Good! What about the tunnel itself?"

Salvo spoke up. "As long as we keep the fires burning, we should be able to keep melting the ice and wait for it to freeze into the tunnel shape."

Shen smiled. "That's great!" he exclaimed.

He thought to himself, _perhaps now we can get something done in this galaxy._

Everybody was suddenly snapped out of this revery when Salvo suddenly snarled out. "Well then, what are we waiting for? GET TO WORK!" he roared, throwing a piece of trash at one unfortunate R&D guy who ran to get to researching.

Everybody scrambled off to work on this new project before Salvo put his hands on something hazardous to health and welfare.

* * *

**Aeron Solo: Yay! Chapter 5 is really up! ****(Finally!)**

******So yeah, I hope you liked the **Sword. Socius is going to be a key character of the following chapters. The Sword is very important, as you can imagine.

**Any complaints, you know what to do.**

**Please R&R! (Read and Review!)**

**Aeron Solo wuz here**

**P.S. I'm going to work as fast as I can with chapter 6, so hang in there!**


	6. Betrayal

Relics of the Past

Chapter VI

Betrayal

* * *

_For many millennia, this place has remained a quiet resting place for those that have passed on. Thousands of Unbound have been laid to rest at last in the final engagement of a horrific and catastrophic Inter-Galactic war, which resulted in the destruction of nearly all the megaliths ever created, and also that of nearly all of their worst weapons of war._

_It was a horrific battle. No trump cards were held back in any way; all laid out their hands in full. The sheer scale of the battle is far too large for any mind to comprehend; one needs only look at the massive size of the Karos Graveyards to realize the enormity of the engagement._

_The good Progenitors and their allies fought valiantly, yet nothing could stop their side's rebellious brothers and sisters and their god of war, Qwaar-Jet. The protector goddess Koshiir-Ra did much to spare the lives of many from the war god and his forces, but there was no holding back the rebels. Koshiir-Ra's shield eventually shattered under Qwaar-Jet's sword, and Sajuuk himself went hand-to-hand with Qwaar-Jet._

_When even the maker's strength began to fail, the brave crew of the Foundry made a decision: they would send their Foundry on a suicide course towards the heart of the fleet, and then overload its hyperspace drives, blasting the large shipyard to smithereens and taking with it thousands of rebels. Their valiant actions even knocked shattered the sword of Qwaar-Jet, allowing Sajuuk to finally end the battle. There was no destroying Qwaar-Jet, for Sajuuk and his forces were far too weak by then to deal the finishing blow. So Sajuuk gathered the power of the Hyperspace cores and forced Qwaar-Jet into Hyperspace, sealing him away for ages to come. Their god defeated, rebels stood down, and the loyalists emerged victorious._

_Unbeknownst to any survivors of the battle, the researchers on the Foundry had been pouring their research into one Hyperspace Core to surpass them all, including the power of Sajuuk's Trinity. They had tried for months without success, before one researcher came upon a solution on accident. They had set to work on making the final core, and had completed it moments before the Rebels had first launched their attack. Unable to put it to use before their sacrifice, the captain made the decision to use the quantum disruption to displace the Grand Core in the local time-space continuum, locking it away in an alternate reality accessible only to the chosen, who would appear and claim the core. For millennia, no one disturbed its slumber._

_Now, someone was about to break this cycle…_

* * *

**Location: Rough Center of the Karos Graveyards**

"What do you think of gods?"

A Somtaaw scout was talking to another in their Seeker-II class reconnaissance fighters. Both were weaving in and out of the spaces between massive derelicts in the Karos Graveyards while searching for useful salvage among the wrecks. The two kept their eyes on their sensors and on their flight path, but they continued to chatter.

The first pilot's companion remained silent for a few moments before responding. "Why do you ask?"

"I mean, it seems like a lot of problems in this world are caused in the name of certain gods, you know? You know the story of Kiith Gaalsien?"

"Hmm, that was the Kiith that started the Heresy wars, wasn't it?"

"Yup. They waged war in Sajuuk's name, and they made a lot of weird transgressions in his name too. Even after their exile they continued their fanatic worship of him."

"But it's not the god's fault that these things happen," the second pilot noted. "It's not like Sajuuk actually asked them to do these things. People do weird things in the name of gods, but it doesn't mean they actually support these things."

"Hmm, you're probably right," the young man's female companion mused. "Say, have you ever heard the legend of Koshiir-Ra?"

"Koshiir-Ra? She was the Taidan guardian goddess, wasn't she?"

"Yeah. Have you heard her legend, though?"

"No, actually. I don't care much for Taiidan religion. But go ahead."

"They say that when the universe first started to take shape, there were two gods. One was Sajuuk, or He whose Hand Shapes All. The other was the collective entity of Qwaar-Jet and Koshiir-Ra, who represented the aspects of human nature. They were actually one deity."

"Eventually, like all humans, the two parts to human nature began to fight. Qwaar-Jet wanted to take the side of the aggressors in war, while Koshiir-Ra wished to protect the innocents that became caught in the struggle and the ones who were being mercilessly attacked. Eventually, they split into two beings, and waged a great war with each other, which quickly drew to a stalemate. They would repeatedly clash over the years, each supporting opposite sides, until it became clear that Qwaar-Jet's sword was equaled by Koshiir-Ra's shield. Then, Sajuuk entered the war on the side of Koshiir-Ra, and ended the war in favor of the defenders. Then, all three gods mysteriously vanished, never to be seen or heard from again."

"Weird legend," the male pilot commented.

"Hey, I thought it was pretty cool," his companion defended, slightly offended by this.

"No, it's just that…how can a man and a woman be one person?"

"…I have no idea, actually…"

"See? Other than that, it's a pretty good story."

Their communications crackled to life as their commander, a boy barely in his late teens, contacted them. "Are you two going to chatter all day about gods and reveal our presence here?" he asked, amused. "We might not be the only ones out here, you know."

"Of course, commander. We'll get back to work."

"Try to keep the channels moderately silent," the young man said before closing the transmission.

The female scout shook her head. "Commander Octo sure is stiff," she muttered.

"Chill out. He's only acting in our best interests. And he's right, we really are talking a little too much."

The female sighed. "Boys," she muttered, before turning back to her sensors.

Commander Octavius Somtaaw stood back, satisfied that the scouts were focused on their task.

Octo was no ordinary boy. He was a child prodigy among the Mining Kiith Somtaaw, ascending to the rank of Somtaaw Fleet Command of the legendary Explorer-class vessel Kuun-Lan at the relatively tender age of sixteen.

This vessel was historic, as it was the same vessel that led the battle against the dastardly techno-organic virus known as the Beast that ravaged the galaxy. The Kuun-Lan was especially important to Octo, as in addition to its legendary exploits, his great-great-great grandfather was its Fleet Command during the Beast War. Everyone knew this, and so he had a lot of pressure taking on the job. But he was determined to live up to everybody's expectations.

Ordinarily, none of them would risk a mission so deep into the Karos Graveyards. There was no telling what derelicts could emerge and attack. The massive amount of wreckage also held untold dangers, as sometimes long-deactivated vessels would suddenly fire their weapons when long-severed power cables suddenly connected. Not only that, it was a great place for ambush. Besides that, Octo couldn't shake the feeling that there was a special reason for the Karos Graveyards being dubbed as a Graveyard…

Recently, however, a probe in the Karos Graveyards had detected a massive energy spike in the time-space continuum, powerful enough to be identifyable as a quantum disruption. Octo had decided to investigate it, as only the famed Far-Jumper Cores of the Hiigarans and Bentusi alike were known to possess power of this magnitude. Well aware of the Prophecy of the End Times as he was, Octo had decided to take a chance and look for the source of the disruption.

Octo drummed his fingers against the console and hummed as he watched the blips on the sensors that were the Seeker-IIs travel around the Graveyards. _I hope something happens soon. _He didn't want to go back to the Somtaaw Kiith'Sa empty handed, as this expedition wasn't exactly authorized...

* * *

**Hethlim Ice Fields, aboard Path of the Wander R&D Wing:**

The research wing of the Wanderer was hustling and bustling. The whole place was alive with activity; everyone was doing stastics here, putting pieces together there, sketching things out, ordering people about. Everybody was busy.

The doors to the wing opened, and Shen walked in. Tui and La took up positions just outside the wing. "We'll wait for you here, Shen," Tui rumbled.

"At ease, Tui. I know you will. We don't a repeat of that accident, do we?" Shen asked gently. It was a rhetorical question, but Tui shook his massive head nonetheless.

The Hunters usually went with him everywhere, but research labs were one of the few sole exceptions. Because of their immense size, Hunters have to beware that they don't ruin any projects, or spill any chemicals. Tui in particular had once been a little bit careless, and had accidentally knocked over a bottle of very potent acids that a young researcher had placed rather carelessly at the very edge of the table. Tui had gotten many portions of his arm and leg burned away, and was forced to stand idly for three months while he recovered.

The results were nearly catastrophic in a battle during those months. Shen was unaccustomed to having his left side unprotected in battle, and so he had forgotten to watch it carefully. A Human had caught him off guard, and was about to kill him when Salvo made an amazing jump from somewhere up high (Shen still had no idea where the heck the crazy Grunt had come from) and had landed on his shoulders, blinded him with his legs while he commited his Plasma Pistol to an overcharge and brained the soldier. Shen had been quite stunned by the rescue, and it was only when Salvo had landed and kicked his fallen Plasma Rifle back into his hands and said, "Time's a-wasting, soldier. Get back in the fight, or you'll be following that guy," and pointed at the slain human that Shen had snapped back into the battle. Throughout the rest of the battle, Salvo had proved himself to be a more than capable fighter, making devastating use of his pistol's overcharge and then following up with a large unforgiving volley of Needler fire.

Shen smiled. Salvo had joined their little "family" after that day, becoming quite close to them despite his antagonizing demeanor and a sharp tongue that an old war veteran would have been proud of.

Shen walked here and there, asking how things were going, inquiring about the nature of their projects, and then walked directly to the most vital project at hand. He watched as Elite engineers soldered wires together, mounted and welded antigravity plates to the outside casing, and then put each and every vital component in its proper place.

One Elite researcher came over. "Fleetmaster, the Safe Zone creator is almost ready. A couple finishing touches here and there and it will perform 110% of what you want it to."

Shen nodded in approval. "Good work. Keep it up!" he said. Then he eyed the young researcher more closely. "Say, I haven't seen you before. What's your name?"

"Radin. Radin Au'ram, sir."

"Are you new to this fleet?"

Radin nodded ruefully. "I botched a certain project while you and the Fleet of Ascendant Justice screwed up at Alpha Halo. They shunted me to work with you."

"What was your failure?"

"I'm not quite sure. It should have worked, but I had to leave it briefly while preparing it. When I came back, I finished the preparations, and started it up, but a bit late I realized that one chemical I added in wasn't supposed to be there and should've been another, but someone switched the two chemicals. By the time I realized this, the device had already started combusting, and I had to jump back and lock down my R&D armor just to survive the explosion. Lucky for me it worked, because the explosion took out the entire lab. That's why I'm here."

Shen nodded. "An outcast. Just like the rest of us." He raised his hand and clapped him on the back. "Since I haven't said this formally, I'll say it now: Welcome, Radin. I'm happy to have you on board. Feel free to talk to me if you have any concerns, and make sure I know if there is a problem. Understood?"

Radin accepted the welcome and the two chatted a little before they went off for their respective jobs.

Radin, Shen thought. The name struck a chord in his memory. He wasn't sure where, but he knew that he'd heard it somewhere. He resolved to ask Tui about him; that Hunter could remember what you ate for breakfast five years ago. His memory was perfect; although Hunters can't see (how can they? they don't have eyes!), they have an extraordinarily good sensor radius (no one knows how it works, and the Hunters don't care to tell people), and can sometimes sense someone sneaking up on them if they have entered this area. Tui in particular was good at remembering entire battles, and could tell you what weapon fired when and who was where.

**Fun Fact!**

**(WTF, Aeron Solo?)**

**Tui is sometimes invited to Covenant schools to help set up near-perfect reenactments of major battles that he participated in. Which was a lot, because he was a real juggernaut on the battlefield, so people depended on him a lot. Of course, Shen and La often followed, and at some point Salvo joined their little group, so the four traveled between fleets a lot and saw MANY important battles.**

Now, here they stood. On the verge of getting the core. Having failed their original mission, and knowing what would happen if they went back empty-handed and proclaiming that the entire religion of the Covenant was false, they had to get it.

* * *

Jag floated in the dead of space.

"Jag, are you and your fellows ready?" he heard Shen ask over the channels.

_We're all ready, Shen. Let's go._

"Good. Makaan?"

"We are ready to proceed, V'Klekk."

"Then let's do this!"

A number of Shen's vessels clustered together.

"Ready energy projectors," Shen said, as they moved into position.

"Focus," he said as they charged their energy projectors.

"Steady...steady...FIRE!"

As one, the cruisers unleashed their wrath upon a single cluster of ice boulders, melting a path straight through them.

Shen watched the cruisers work. "Uram, bring up a holo of the procedure."

Uram quickly projected a hologram of the entire procedure. The ice boulders were being vaporized instantly from the withering barrage of energy projector fire. The cloud of vapor quickly whirled away from the blasts, as there really wasn't anywhere else to go or else get vaporized AGAIN, and quickly supercooled in the near-absolute zero temperatures of space, freezing into rough tunnels.

Makaan's resource collectors gathered around larger chunks of ice on the fringes of the ice fields, giving them a shove towards the column of energy, reinforcing the tunnels by adding more to their walls.

Shen kept an eye on the hologram until he was sure that the tunnel was thick and large enough. "Enough!" he shouted, and all weapons powered down.

"We'll go first. Everyone in single file behind us," Shen ordered. The Wanderer steered towards the ice tunnel while the other vessels cleared away slightly to let the flagship through.

Makaan watched the entire procedure. _Have to admit, the Elites are quite resourceful, _he thought with grudging admiration. Makaan admired the Elites in that respect, for sure, but he still hated them. Typical Brutesque attitude these days.

Socius watched the Elites work from a surprisingly short distance away. No one except his fleet knew that the Sword of Aether was actually close enough to see the entire thing from the bridge. That was because Socius' entire strike force was masking itself as ambient floating asteroids. All strike craft had docked, and now they were masquerading as asteroids without any Resource Units whatsoever to discourage resource collectors from trying to harvest them and blow their cover.

Socius knew Makaan's ways, and what they would do next. The Brutes would take the core, they would quickly move to attack the Elites, and then they would leave with the Dreadnought, and call the rest of the fleet in to destroy the Elites. Socius would have struck Makaan down right then and there, except Fleetmaster V'Klekk had already, if reluctantly, joined forces with Makaan. Any action now would be viewed as a rebellion against both, and while Vaygr vessels were fragile and easy targets for the Sword of Aether, standard Covenant vessels were not. Especially since Elites were commanding them. Socius knew that he had to bide his time and wait until there was clear evidence of treachery from the Brutes. Conveniently, that would also bring the Elites in range of the Hyperspace Core, spearing two targets with a single beam rifle round.

Socius's allies were waiting alongside him in the Sword of Aether's escort vessels. They would watch and wait, until the moment was right. And then they would strike.

The Wanderer moved through the ice tunnel, slowly and carefully. No sense hurrying; they were the only ones in the area.

"How long till we can set up the safe zone?" Shen asked.

Uram looked up. "Approximately five minutes."

"Good. Salvo?"

Salvo looked up. "Safe zone projector in its launcher and ready to fire, Shen."

"Tui?"

"Energy Projectors still cooling and recharging. They'll be ready soon after we get there."

"La?"

"Shields at full, Shen, in case the Safe Zone misses a boulder or two."

"Good. Set up the safe zone as soon as we get within range."

They turned back towards the viewport, falling silent as they waited. Everything's going smoothly. Too smoothly. The Brutes are far too cooperative, Shen noted. It's one thing to team up with reluctance, another to abandon all blood feud and comply to orders with scarcely a complaint. Something's not right. He didn't say this in case it was a false alarm, but he had cautioned all his vessels to be on full alert for attack. From anyone except their own. That translated to, Beware the Brutes. All our confirmed allies are safe, but the Brutes are not to be trusted.

Shen waited until they were in firing range. Then, "Make the Safe Zone!"

The SZ Projector was fired out of its launcher, and immediately triggered its gravity lifts, pushing away any ice boulders. It stopped at the specified location.

Jag and his group flew in, unaffected by the power of the SZ launcher, and drew ice boulders to just beyond the rim of the anti-grav field. Then they fused them together to create a rough sphere of ice to protect whatever was within.

Shen ordered the SZ Projector to be deactivated, and they moved forward. They waited awhile for the other vessels to arrive. Then they repeated the process, burning another tunnel through the ice.

This entire procedure was done because they couldn't guarantee a single ice tunnel could be made all the way to the core. Therefore they made sure that they could do things by burning their way through slowly, along a set route through the safest but thickest parts of the ice fields.

Still, one Elite was impatient. "Why aren't we just setting max power to our energy projectors and burning all the way to the core?" he demanded.

His answer: "You want to glass the core, space-brain?" Salvo asked.

That shut him up.

* * *

**Karos Graveyards:**

Octo was bored. In the Karos Graveyards, nothing was ever this quiet. Yet, it was now.

"Any sign of quantum disturbances?" he called.

"None, sir. That thing we picked up must've been a wormhole," the sensors officer asserted.

Octo groaned. Wonderful. He risked a journey like this, and he had nothing to show for it except salvaged RUs and some interesting but not particularly important ancient wreckage. _The Kiith'sa isn't going to be happy about this._

"Alright," he sighed, resigning himself to failure. "Pack it up, recon, and head back to dock. We're heading ho-"

Abruptly, the Kuun-Lan suddenly careened to the left, causing everyone to fall towards the left of the bridge. Octo grasped onto the railing by the console and, through a strained exertion of his lean muscles, managed to reach the engine controls and brought the ship back to stability. "What was that?"

Sensors officers were already on it. "Sir! Powerful quantum disturbances, all throughout this sector! Power levels are off the charts!" one shouted.

Octo was only half listening. In front of them, time-space was flickering with a hyperspace disturbance, revealing bright flashes of something...a core?

"Navigation, move us into that disturbance right there! Workers, stand by for launch procedures!" Octo ordered.

The navigation officer paled. "Sir, a quantum disturbance like that could slice the Kuun-Lan in two!"

"Then equalize it a little with all hyperdrives we have."

"Sir, there's no way we can hope to match the power of these disturbances-!"

"All I want to do is stabilize one point in time-space that's big enough for at least a few workers to go through!" Octo snapped back. "Can that at least be done?"

The officer made a couple calculations. "Only for a few moments at a time," was his answer.

"Then do it!" Octo ordered.

The fleet localized a hyperspace field in front of the Kuun-Lan, creating a tunnel between hyperspace and realspace, and revealed finally what Octo had seen.

Before them was a large tan object. A flattened cylinder was encased by two two-pronged conduit casings on either side. The conduits sparked and flashed with untold power, and the central section was humming with power that was felt throughout the decks of the Kuun-Lan.

A Hyperspace Core!

"Workers, retrieve the core while we can still keep the window open!" Octo ordered.

Workers launched from the hanger module and moved with all speed toward the core. They locked onto it with magnetic clamps and dragged it towards the Explorer.

The hyperspace window was flickering. "Sir! We can't maintain this for much longer!" the navigations officer shouted.

"All ships, divert all the power we can spare from non-vital systems to the hyperdrives!" Octo ordered. "We've got to give those workers more time!"

Energy conduits were flickering dangerously as they struggled to maintain the flow of power to the hyperdrives. The Kuun-Lan's long-range sensors flickered and died as more and more power was diverted to the hyperdrives. All over the fleet, capital ship vessels' running lights died down as the strain of maintianing the hyperspace window took its toll. Some vessels even suffered small explosions as conduits overheated too close to explosive materials. Just when they thought they couldn't go further, the workers put on a final burst of speed and made it out of the window.

"Let it close!" Octo shouted, and all hyperdrives shut down. Power returned to the Kuun-Lan's systems. Well, most of them...

"Damage report!" Octo shouted. He was taking no chances; their vessels weren't meant for this kind of work.

"Long-range sensors are slightly damaged sir!" engineering reported. "We're running at 83% maximum sensor range. Long-range communications taken have a little damage, enough to keep us from reporting back to the Kiith-sa right now."

"In addition, the main power line to the hyperdrive is fried. The feedback was too much. We're going to have to replace it if we're going to get home."

Octo listened as more and more damage reports came in. The results were grim; all capital ships had recieved some kind of damage. Several vessels' ammo supplies had caught fire and exploded, causing near-critical damage in some places. Octo hoped they could repair their ships quickly; he didn't want to remain here for too long. Thankfully, no one had been killed.

"Get the repair systems up and running; all repair beams focus on the most damaged vessels in the fleet. Strike-craft, stand by and stay on guard. I don't want anyone getting the jump on us right now. Sentinels, assume sphere formation around the most damaged capital ships and activate force fields. Hive Frigates, keep your light swarmer drones on guard if you can. And," he added, glancing at the core, looming majestically before th Kuun-Lan, "someone bring the Core into the hangar. It looks like we're going to be giving the Voyager development team another toy to play with."

* * *

**Aboard Makaan's flagship:**

Makaan watched as they made the final leg of their path. _Soon_, he thought._ Soon._

He could see the core now. It truly was impressive, and it looked very Forerunner.

He smiled. With this, he could finally unite the Crusades of the Vaygr under one banner, and bring the wandering tribes to victory over the rest of this galaxy.

The Vaygr were a known force here. They had been around since around fifty years ago. Mission after mission of brutes had been dispatched to this galaxy because of a vague detection of Forerunner relics. None had returned to their home galaxy. Makaan was among the latest of these expeditions, The prophets believed they had perished. In reality, they had survived, with heavy losses, and banded with other wandering space-faring cultures without names to become the Vaygr, a loose confederation of Seven Crusades. Like the Brutes, however, they often fell into civil war. Makaan hoped to change that with this Core, and make the Vaygr's seven Crusades into a mighty naval power.

His Battlecruisers cracked the ice encasing the Core after a short order, and soon the Core floated free.

Makaan smiled again and nodded to his communications officer. The officer saluted and sent a cryptic signal across antiquated communicators: _Stand by_.

"Makaan, haul the Core in. We're not well equipped to take in the Core."

Makaan ordered the Resource Collectors to take in the Core, and soon it was under investigation by the scientists in the hangar.

Makaan smiled. _It is time._

The convoy burned its way out of the Ice Fields.

"All right, we've got the Core. Now, what's our next move?" Shen asked.

"I'll answer that question for you, Fleetmaster," Makaan said in a strange voice, putting an especially large amount of scorn into the last word.

"Wha-?" Shen didn't have any time before an EMP burst disabled all systems except communications.

Immediately, all over the fleet, Brutes massacred Shen's convoy, blasting the unprepared Elites with tons of firepower with a raw speed that stunned the Elites and the others.

"Makaan! What's going on?" Shen shouted.

Far away, in their original galaxy, unbeknownst to others, a Brute Chieftian named Tartarus had Thel Vadam'ee, the Arbiter, pinned against a cliff. And strangely, what followed next had a stunning parallel:

"A bloody fate awaits you and the rest of your incompetent race, (V'Klekk) and I, Tartarus/Makaan, Chieftian/Warlord of the Brutes/Vaygr will send you to it!" Tartarus and Makaan said to their respective enemies, Tartarus in a voice of fire, Makaan's as icy as the Fields.

Shen watched as his ships were falling to the Brutes' betrayal, while the Arbiter crept backward as his enemies closed in. As one, by sheer coincidence, they said, "When the Prophets learn of this, they will take/have your head!" (Arbiter/Shen, respectively)

"When they learn?" Tartarus chuckled while Makaan roared with laughter. "Fool! They ordered me to do it!"

Tartarus sent the Arbiter sailing off the cliff while Makaan taunted Shen with another laugh as he returned with his escorts to the rest of his fleet, more Vaygr vessels hyperspacing in. _Why?_

* * *

Socius saw the events unfolding. "Now," he said quietly.

* * *

Aeron turned his face to the heavens, the events befalling Shen and his friends reflected in his eye. "So. It has begun."

* * *

**OMG! Chapter 6 is up!**

**Wow, sorry to keep you guys waiting so long. Chapter 5 took so long to rewrite; my stupid laptop deleted everything while I was placing the finishing touches. Then I had to write this chapter.**

**So yeah, hope you liked how the Brutes turned traitor to the Elites and their friends. For those of you who hope so, I am sad to crush all your hopes and dreams by saying that NO, THE UNSC WILL NOT HAVE ANY PART IN THIS STORY. Yeah, I know, the boo fest is coming. HOWEVER, that is not to say no SPARTANS will show up. **

**So yeah, keep your eyes peeled for the next chapter, 'cause I am going to write it as fast as I can. Reread chapter 5 so you can get an idea of what leads up to this, and I will return with more of Shen's adventures. Please place reviews you would have liked to place on chapter 5 on chapter 6's review. Basically, review both of them.**

**Till then,**

**Aeron Solo wuz here**


	7. Dark Horizon

**It's a bird! It's a plane!**

**No! It's the NEXT CHAPTER OF RELICS OF THE PAST!**

**OH MY FREAKING GOD I AM SO SORRY I LOST MY THUMBDRIVE PEOPLE. I WILL NEVER DO THIS TO YOU EVER AGAIN.**

**I sure as heck hope you guys are happy with this chapter. This was done sort of hastily, and I don't know if it's any good. Please Read and Review when you're finished reading, please!**

**Thank you all so much for bearing with me. I'll try to post the next one as fast as I can.**

**Till then,**

**Aeron Solo wuz here**

**For now, enjoy!**

Relics of the Past

Chapter VII

Dark Horizon

* * *

Octo stood before the massive Hyperspace Core in the Hangar module, nearly too big to fit. "So this is the Core we found in that disturbance, huh?"

"Yes, sir."

"Looks a little different from the one back on Hiigara, huh?"

"That's because it _is_ different, sir."

"Eh?"

"We have done every test that we could. There is much that we could still do back at the shipyards, but from what we have gathered, it is around three times more powerful than the one back on Hiigara."

"That strong?"

"Perhaps even greater."

"Amazing…" Octo murmured, gazing at the core with newfound awe.

The scientist he was speaking to smiled. "We may be in trouble when we return to Eden, but at least the Kiith-sa will be pleased to see this."

Octo gave a grunt of halfhearted agreement, almost a growl of hostility. The scientist wisely chose not to question him; he already knew what would be the response.

The Kiith-sa of Kiith Somtaaw was not the best of fellows to get along with. He was a power-hungry politician, who did things mostly for his own power and prestige. Rarely was it ever for the good of Kiith Somtaaw. Whenever something he ordered to have done went wrong, he found a way to pin the blame on others and not on himself. When things he had nothing to do with went right, he would find a way to take the credit. There wasn't a soul in the Kuun-Lan Exploration Fleet who didn't know that Octo hated the man with every bone and fiber of his body. But nobody who didn't know the Kiith-Sa well knew about this; his record looked good, and no one looked into it. Which was why Octo discontentedly followed orders, for if he disobeyed the Somtaaw-Sa then he would be found at fault immediately. Besides, what was he, a sixteen-year-old who barely attained Captainship of the Kuun-Lan a month ago, going to do against the leader of the Kiith, who had a nearly spotless record of "benevolence" and "wise leadership?"

Octo absentmindedly reached out to touch the Core in his musings. The scientist noticed this with alarm. "Ah-! Sir! That's not advi-!"

_KA-ZAAAACCCKKKK!_

The Core exploded into a brilliant corona of shining blue energy, lighting up the entire docking bay. Octo was engulfed in the energy, every hair on his body standing up. He let out an anguished cry as he fell, unconscious before he hit the floor. The Core promptly stopped glowing, and settled back into its original state.

But not quite the same. Everybody could hear a distinct humming noise as several lines on the core began to light up with the same blue radiance, and a crystalline sphere in the very center began to flicker with trapped lightning-like energy. Scientists nearby shouted urgently as they detected a spike in the quantum waveform around the core.

The scientist didn't listen to any of this. He rushed over to Octo's side. "Commander!" he shouted, shaking Octo. "Fleet Command!" He pressed his ear to Octo's heart. To his relief, he felt a faint heartbeat. "Medics!" he shouted. "Commander Octo is hurt! Take him down to the infirmary at once!"

Medics rushed Octo onto a hover-stretcher and carried him away. Meanwhile the lead scientist turned back to the Core and stared at its great expanse. _What is going on here? _He wondered.

* * *

Hethlim Ice Fields. A usually quiet place. Many days pass as the silent cold ice boulders float aimlessly through space, sometimes ricocheting off one another. It is filled with potential resources, but there is really no reason to go there. As such, it usually sees a day go by without any action.

This…isn't one of these days.

_KA-BLAAAMMMM!_

In fact, it's a good thing that space doesn't actually have sound, courtesy of the vacuum. Otherwise…well, suffice to say that one could go worse than deaf in the chaos ensuing there. Worse than deaf being falling to the nonexistent ground with blood pouring out of your ears from the complete shattering of the delicate instruments that are your eardrums.

_KA-BOOOOMMMM!_

The bridge of the Path of the Wanderer rocked as a Heavy Fusion Missile exploded nearby, jarring the shields and knocking the people onboard askew.

Shen crashed against a support pillar. "Ugh," he muttered and spat out a globule of blood. "Return fire!" he spat, cursing their luck. _Why did the inertial compensators have to get taken out in that ambush?_ He moaned internally.

The powerful energy projectors of the Wanderer powered up and lanced the offending battlecruiser straight through its missile battery, detonating completed warheads and causing a large explosion that would take the ship out of the fight.

Shen got back up, and looked at Tui and La, sighing. "I wish we were able to engage them hand to hand. Then it would be a straight fight."

"Calm down, Shen," Tui rumbled. "You're an Elite. We can still win this, but with brains, not force."

Shen closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, letting it back out slowly. When he opened his eyes again, they were sharp and intensely focused. Tui and La could feel the buzz of Shen's consciousness sharpening as well into the brilliant commander they knew so well. _Good,_ they both though simultaneously. _Now the battle begins._

Shen stepped up to the command podium. "Bring up the sensors manager!" he shouted. A hologram popped up in front of him, showing him practically everything that was happening at the moment. Shen looked carefully at it, then began shouting orders. Slowly, but surely, the fleet began to organize. The capital ships moved into small battle groups, and the strike craft moved to cover them.

Shen quickly checked the sensors manager. The Vaygr outnumbered them twenty to one, and the Forerunner AI were also in disarray. Shen was not so sure that he could win a twenty to one battle, but he had to try. It was that or destruction.

Shen began to give orders again. _We will endure!_

* * *

A pair of eyes opened in the darkness as the voices of hundreds of Progenitor AI were silenced.

Inga-009's humanoid AI form stood up in his meditative sphere. _What has happened?_ He wondered, closing his eyes and replacing it with the eyes of his ship form's sensors.

Many of his Progenitor construct comrades had been destroyed. The ones that remained were heavily damaged. Shocked, Inga contacted Sanhail. _What has happened here?_

_Skkrrrzz-Vaygr-krrksszzrr-attacked-qvvkkrrss-us_, Sanhail managed to convey. With horror Inga realized that Sanhail's consciousness core had been damaged, a device so hard to repair that if damaged the AI's original identity would be practically gone forever unless repaired by the best of repairers. But only their oldest and wisest foundry, the exalted Anquyiin-000, was capable of doing this.

A cold rage spread through Inga as he opened his eyes once more. He immediately delved into his resource banks and began to construct a Foundry. For lesser vessels this would be impossible, but the Progenitors had learned to manufacture small parts and allow smaller vessels to assemble the pieces outside them. Inga deployed these construction drones, and while they got into position, he deployed the parts as quickly as he could produce them, which, given the raw speed of the Progenitors' construction abilities, was amazingly fast.

Meanwhile, the carrier's escort frigates began to assemble in anticipation of the fight. Inga launched more Frigates and a large swarm of strike craft to accompany them. Among them, several frigates opened up their docking bays to allow the strike craft to dock.

_Go,_ Inga said. _Help our brethren_.

The younger Progenitor AI tapped their Hyperspace Drives, and hyperspaced away, heading directly for the battle. Inga watched them go, then activated the new Foundry's consciousness. _Build a Dreadnaught and then three Destroyers,_ Inga requested. The Foundry wordlessly got to work. Inga himself began to prepare a small flotilla of vessels to support his brethren.

* * *

Socius watched as the small, simple AI constructs that he had constructed moved across space until they latched upon the sensor arrays of many of the enemy Vaygr capital ships. He smiled humorlessly. _Now for the first act of this drama,_ he thought to himself.

These small drones were designed to distort the sensor arrays of his enemies and send them false information. He could cause them to misperceive a vastly inflated number of enemy vessels, identify friend as foe, create false vessels destroying other false vessels, and other tricks. But first, he had to keep from arousing suspicion in Makaan. He created a clone _Sword of Aether_, a number of fake escorts and false enemies on the sensors and wiped the original and his escort fleet from the sensors. The drones would burn out in approximately half an hour, so he had to make every second count.

Sure enough, a transmission crackled in. "_Socius, attack the battlegroup ahead of you. Form a Capital Phalanx._

"Understood, Warlord." Socius' intelligence officers created an illusionary battle to further the deception. Meanwhile, he and his group moved towards where a vastly outnumbered battlegroup of Covenant vessels were desperately fighting off the Vaygr.

Socius looked at his second in command. "Are we close enough to jam their communications?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then jam them." Socius waited until confirmation of comm signal jamming was confirmed. "Now, attack!"

The Sword of Aether dropped its cloaking field and launched a vicious attack upon an unfortunate Battlecruiser. Sixteen Heavy Fusion Missiles screamed through space and impacted upon the said Battlecruiser's hull, soon followed by a rapid salvo of super-heavy laser pulses from the four Trinity Cannon Barrels mounted on either side of the main cannon. The first few shots tore the hull of the Battlecruiser wide open, and the rest punched holes straight through it and, albeit slightly weakened, smashed into the enemy vessels on either side, leaving large smoking craters of rapidly cooling molten metal.

The Sword of Aether angled in for an attack with its main cannon without hitting the Covenant vessels, all the while holding the lesser capital ships at bay with its rotating Trinity Cannon turrets. Its Battlecruiser and Destroyer escorts added to the carnage with their own considerable payloads of Heavy Fusion Missiles. Then strike craft and the Sword of Aether's torpedoes took flight, and rained death upon capital ships and strike craft alike, massacring all that stood in their way.

Four Battlecruisers remained. Socius checked their positions, and bared another humorless grin when he saw that they were all lined up in the Sword of Aether's most fearsome weapon. "Weapons officer!" he called. "Prepare to fire the main cannon. One arrow, four birds." The weapon's officer understood and began to issue orders to reconfigure the cannon's safety measures to endure the stress of a 400% maximum practical power level firing. "All ships, clear away! The Sword's thunder is about to strike!" he warned.

Every vessel under Socius' command flew with all speed to get away from the main cannon's firing path. Socius waited until there was nothing in his way. Then, "Fire!"

"Firing now!" the weapons officer shouted, and activated the cannon.

There was a rumble of thunder flooding through the decks of the Sword of Aether as the cannon hummed and burst to life, building tremendous power in its firing chamber. Outside, everyone could see streaks of light drawing into the barrel of the main cannon as the energies reached maximum power. Then, with a mighty roar, the light and heat exploded out of the barrel, ripping straight through all the battlecruisers in nearly the same instant. Armor plating was shredded into nothingness as the beam streaked beyond the final battlecruiser and continued to extend its reach to an asteroid a good 5000 km beyond.

When the beam finally dimmed and the cannon went quiet, the battlecruisers were little more than burned husks drifting in space.

Socius allowed himself to let out a sigh of relief. _That went extraordinarily well,_ he thought.

"How is the cannon?" he asked.

"It's holding," the firing officer said, looking at the statistics. "Though we're not going to be using it for some time since we used quite a bit more power than practical use would allow for. It's going to take awhile for it to cool down and allow the magnetic containment fields to go up again."

"Good," Socius said, relieved that the cannon had not been damaged. _It's a nightmare to repair on the battlefield, _he noted.

There was a hail from the rescued Covenant vessels, which Socius answered.

"A timely rescue, Brute," the Elite in command said, more than a little skeptical. "A little too timely."

"My greatest apologies. But there it was necessary," Socius replied.

"How do I know you are speaking the truth?" the Elite asked, still not close to trusting the Brute. "If you decide to turn on us, then you would be in a very convenient position to do so."

Socius sighed. "_If you do not believe me,_" he said in perfect, if a little rough around the edges Sangheiliean, causing a start of surprise from the Elite, "_Then perhaps I should take an unbreakable vow?_"

Incredulous, the Elite responded in kind. "_You…how do you speak this language? It requires the upper and lower mandibles of a Sangheili to speak!_"

"_Trust me, it was not easy. Fortunately, I had a very good teacher,_" the commander said, smiling wryly. "

Still wary, but a little more convinced, the Sangheili thought it over. "_Why? Why do you save us? Aren't we your race's mortal enemies?_"

"_You are my race's mortal enemies. Not mine. The Sangheili have unwittingly saved my life so many times that I have lost count, from when I was but a cub. And it was my own race that killed my best friend, an Sangheili just like you, for nothing more than that he was a Sangheili._"

The Elite grunted. "_Just like we remain wary of you just because you are a Jiralnahae,_" he noted.

"_How about this?_" Socius interrupted. "_You obviously need our help, and we're willing to give it to you. If we betray you in any way, I am providing you with the guillotine codes for our ships to manually shut them down in the case of our betrayal._"

"_How do you know we will not betray you in turn and activate the guillotine codes immediately to take you out?_" the Elite replied.

Socius chuckled. "_You are Sangheili, are you not? That is not your way, not the way of honor. Besides, you will obviously need our added firepower. Even if you can destroy us, there are still many times our number out there to gun you down._"

The Elite gnashed his teeth; he hated that the Brute was right. Naturally, Socius took pleasure in the other's displeasure, not because he hated Elites, but merely because he liked being right.

"_If you will so permit, I will see to it that ALL your battlegroup's vessels are repaired, and I will give medical care to any who need it without spilling a drop of your warrior's blood."_

The Elite's eyes widened. "_Is that even possible?_"

"_Yes, it is. In this galaxy, there are many advances left by the Forerunners that have been passed down to us through the ages, many that are more exotic and useful than those in our home galaxy."_

Socius could see that the Elite was intrigued now, but was holding back out of his pride as a Sangheili. Sparing him the humiliation of bowing down and asking for help from a Jiralnahae, he quickly said, "_Your vessel's primary batteries and shield generators seem damaged to me, Shipmaster. With your permission, I would like to repair it so I can witness the full, unrestrained prowess of an Elite in space combat._"

Seemingly relieved, the commander nodded. "_You may, Shipmaster, eh…_"

"_Socius,_" the Jiralnahae prompted. "_And I am a Fleetmaster in my own right_."

"_Socius, then_," the Elite said. "_Yes, you may repair our vessels. However, at the slightest sign of treachery…_" he let the threat hang in the air.

Socius just smiled and did the best impression of a secret bow that only one well acquainted with a Sangheili would know, furthering the astonishment of the Elites looking on. "_Rest assured, I will not betray you._"

He signaled to his second in command, and the Brute instantly gave orders. Resource Collectors moved to damaged portions of the hulls of the Covenant Capital ships, quickly repairing damaged sectors and when necessary dissolving a component into RUs so that it could remake the component, but fully repaired.

Socius quickly checked on the battle elsewhere. Another Covenant battlegroup was under siege a short distance away, a good distance for a micro-jump.

Socius opened a channel to his forces. "I want battlegroups one through five to come with me. The rest, remain here and protect the Covenant." He got many affirmatives as his navigation team plotted the course. "Standby for microjump!"

Green Hyperspace windows opened in front of Socius' vessels, pulling them from the three dimensions into the mysterious world of hyperspace.

* * *

_Commander?_

Octo blinked a pair of blurred eyes that had been staring into space for maybe twenty seconds. Then they sharpened and he focused on his concerned aides and friends. "Huh?"

A profound relief swept through his companions. "Thank goodness, he's awake," his lead scientist sighed, sweeping his hand across a brow dripping with nervous perspiration. "We thought we'd lost you, commander.

"Nah, it's fine. I'm alright." Octo braced his elbows against the bed and pushed himself up. "What happened? And what am I doing here?"

"You touched the core on accident while we were talking in the hangar bay, sir," the scientist informed him. "We're not sure, but it seems an incredible amount of power surged through you in the blink of an eye. A moment later, you passed out before you even hit the ground."

Octo frowned. "Should it've sparked like that?" he asked. "It shouldn't have made any connections, should it?"

"Not that we know of, sir. But it's alien technology, commander. We've had a core before for almost a hundred years, but we still know too little of its workings to make another like it."

Octo grunted. "Ugh, well at least I don't have to release a report of _this_ fiasco to the Kiith-sa," he muttered, fingering a throbbing temple. "Where in the blazes are we in space, anyway?"

"Well, right after you passed out, somebody sent the entire fleet into hyperspace back towards Eden," his navigations officer told him. "We're trying to figure out who did it even as we speak, but I've got a funny feeling that we won't find out."

"Is that so?" Octo mused. He swung his legs over the infirmary bed, with the full intention of getting up to walk, but his officers all blocked the way and made an attempt to push him back down to the bed. "Um, that wouldn't really be a good idea, sir. With that much energy pouring into your body, who knows what kind of shape you're- uh… never mind…" he trailed off awkwardly as Octo shrugged the rest of them off and leapt out of the bed, landing lightly.

Octo shrugged his shoulders into his commander's jacket and casually demanded to be released. The doctor, not wanting to take any chances, agreed on the condition that he was declared medically fit.

Octo patiently complied with all the medical tests that the doctors put him through, and waited with his officers as the results came in.

Octo nodded at the doctor when he finally came in. "So, am I cleared, doctor?"

"Yes, commander. You are beyond cleared," the doctor said in a strange voice, as if very puzzled indeed. Octo picked up on this immediately and sighed. "What's wrong doctor? What's so puzzling? I'm fit aren't I?"

"Oh yes, Octo. You're fit. In fact, your results are astoundingly better than your last test."

It was Octo's turn to be shocked and puzzled. "What?"

So the doctor told them. Octo's physical strength, stamina, and speed had all doubled since his last test a month ago. His eyesight had been enhanced by at least ten more feet of clear vision without any reduction to close-range eyesight, and his reaction times were stellar. He was as healthy and fit as the best athletes in all of Hiigara!

Octo was beyond words. The doctor sighed and flipped through his notes. "We're not sure, but these enhancements seem to borderline from cell mutations induced by exposure to incredible energy levels." He raised an eyebrow. "I believe you were shocked by the Core we recovered from Hyperspace?"

"Y-yeah, I guess…" Octo fidgeted.

"Hmm…something on that level would've killed you…" the doctor mused. "Ah, well. You're physically fit, and that's all that matters right now. But…" he went through his notes again, still troubled. "What other effects could there be?" he wondered aloud.

An uncomfortable silence followed. Octo considered breaking it with some comment or another, but was saved from doing so when the hyperspace exit alarm broke out.

"All hands, brace for exit!" Octo shouted with his comm., practically vaulting out the door, with all his aides following him.

Octo flew through the hallways at nearly inhuman speed, shooting past startled crew members like the stellar winds. He got onto the bridge just as the entire convoy finally entered realspace.

Octo placed a hand on the railing and vaulted over it, his body parallel to the railing as it flew over, and landed directly at his command podium. "Where are we?" he asked, adjusting his headset.

His top navigations officer was still trying to get there. The man's aide was the one who answered. "Approximately five klicks away from the very edge of Eden space, sir."

"Why here?" Octo wondered aloud, pulling up the sensors manager. "Hmm?" He noticed the Eden Border Patrol Fleet engaged in a heavy struggle against…"Turanic Raiders!" he shouted, going immediately into his mind's "battle gear."

The sensors officer analyzed what they saw. "There are approximately twenty-five Ion Array Frigates in that fleet, a swarm of one hundred Bandit-II interceptors, twenty Brigand-III missile corvettes, thirty Thief-Heavy Corvettes and…" the sensors officer's blood went cold. "There are fifteen _Barragers_ in that fleet," he said quietly.

Octo felt a chill through his own veins. _Barrager_ Missile Frigates were designed to support six concussion missile bays on either side, and fired massive volleys of the missiles from their extremely-efficient construction bays, technology stolen from the Taiidan Republic right before completion and completed under Turanic supervision. Since then, the Frigates had been the death of many Acolyte fighters for the past five years, and even Frigate Captains were afraid to go near one; its range was absolutely incredible. One alone was enough reason for fear. But fifteen…

Octo considered his options. Firing the siege cannon was out of the question; there were allies there as well. But charging in recklessly wouldn't do any good. He considered these as the fleet moved towards the Turanic Raiders.

"Eden Border Patrol Fleet! This is Commander Octo Somtaaw of the 2nd Exploration Fleet. We are five minutes' cruising range from your location and are moving to assist. What's your situation?"

"Commander Octo? Thank goodness. We're being slaughtered over here. We're heavily engaged in all sectors; three Archangels down, five deacons destroyed, and half our strike craft and frigates are gone. About a fourth of the remaining ones are under assault by Thieves. Request immediate reinforcements. Look out for those Array Frigates; they've now got plasma cannons on their chins. They're on a turret mount."

"A plasma cannon turret?" Octo asked no one in particular. "How far can it turn?"

"Roughly 120 degrees in either direction, though it has to be careful not to hit the arrays when they're folded."

"Dang, that's bad news. Maximum damage potential?"

"Thirty shots to destroy a Frigate, but it fires rapidly."

"Not good, especially with that blasted Ion Cannon," Octo muttered. "Stand by, fleet." He gave an order. "Seraphs are headed your way."

"But what about the Barragers?" the other commander asked, shocked.

"What about the _Barragers_ indeed?" Octo agreed, turning and issuing another order.

Moments later, Octo's Archangels combined their power and unleashed powerful repulsor blasts, hurling the entire Turanic force away from their allies, most specifically hurling the _Barragers_ away from their allies.

"Barragers isolated. Stand clear, fleet!" Octo shouted. "Power up the Siege Cannon!"

A booming report slammed through the decks as the Siege Cannon, hurling a compacted ball of energy straight towards the _Barragers_. They noticed this, and altered their course to move away from it.

"Commander, order your surviving Archangels to fire a repulsor wave right at the shell on my mark!" Octo shouted.

The other commander was startled, but obeyed. Octo watched intently as the blip that was the shell moved across the sensors screen. A little more….a little more… "FIRE!"

A rippling wave of energy sprang from the Archangels to the energy shell, deflecting it sideways altering its course straight into the midst of the Missile Frigates. The magnetic field then promptly deteriorated into oblivion, and a powerful shockwave of plasma blasted the offending frigates into smithereens.

Octo breathed a sigh of relief. "Where are the Seraphs?"

"Inbound. Contact in thirty seconds."

"Got it." Octo turned his attention back to the other commander. "Commander, how was this task force trouble for you? Your fleet was rather large, and I don't think anything like this would've given you a run for your money."

"There were three Battlecruisers earlier. They annihilated the frigates from incredible range while the lesser vessels attacked us from behind, under cover of cloaks and mimics. We were caught off guard by that force, and they took out enough of our Strike Craft to move in with those nasty new Array Frigates of theirs and blast the better part of our remaining Frigates into oblivion."

Octo didn't interrupt as he listened intently to the story. "When we turned around to deal with them, the two remaining Battlecruisers and a couple destroyers they brought with them attacked again, blasting a couple of our Archangels to oblivion. Then they pulled back while the blindsiders moved in to finish us; they originally had a couple destroyers and many times their numbers. What you see that is left is what managed to survive the sacrifice of our other archangel and the Deacons." There was a sorrowful sniff, as if the captain was fighting back tears. "The men onboard said their goodbyes…and the lot of them charged into the fleet, firing off their weapons at reckless power levels that definitely tore them to pieces."

"Why would they do that?" Octo wondered. "No captain would order such a thing to be done, even if it was an extremely dire emergency…" The words "dire emergency" suddenly clicked in, and realization dawned upon an awed and slightly horrified Octo. "Don't tell me…" Octo breathed, awed by the bravery of his comrades. "They performed the Kaarsin Sacrifice?"

"They did," the captain confirmed.

About five years ago, a horrible accident with a hyperdrive had created an incredibly unstable quantum waveform that ripped through space around and inside the vessel, tearing it and many other vessels besides to shreds, and the crew onboard were obliterated by the force of raw hyperspace. People who had survived the incident still remember the horrible screams of people dying from exposure to quantum energy.

Two years later, in a vicious battle against the Turanics and the Imperialists, one courageous captain remembered the accident, and, in an effort to protect his comrades, ordered any who wished to survive to abandon the Archangel. It was a magnificent and sorrowful sight to see; the lone Archangel flying into the midst of endless waves of enemy forces, every gun blazing at maybe 500% the maximum safety levels. It was falling apart mainly from the force of its own guns by the time the Archangel reached the center of the fleet. The captain paged the rest of the fleet one last time, saying farewell on behalf of all of the crew, and in a massive maelstrom of quantum power, the Archangel took with it almost three quarters of the enemy fleet into the void.

In honor of the courageous captain, this maneuver was known now as the Kaarsin Sacrifice, only to be attempted under the most utterly dire of circumstances. One Archangel alone performing it was destructive enough, but one Archangel and five Deacons…

"They must really have been desperate then," Octo muttered, bowing his head in honor of his fallen Kiith.

A moment of silence fell upon the entire fleet, save the Seraph pilots, who were doing their best to remain silent but giving the occasional order, everyone giving their best wishes for the departed souls.

Octo waited for two minutes, then raised his head again. "Seraphs, how are you doing out there?"

"This is Angel leader, reporting in. We've annihilated most of these frigates. We're dispatching the last one now."

"Good. Strike Craft Status?"

"Tch, you know better, commander. Anyone that gets in the way of our Ion Cannons is toast."

Octo allowed himself a grim smile. It was true; there was no strike craft in the galaxy that could stand against the Somtaaw's superior Seraphs.

The special Strike Craft whirled through space at incredible speeds, some taking dives at frigates and lancing out with powerful orange ion beams. Others chased other strike craft and, rather than a semi-continuous beam, spat dozens of the orange lances out like a machine gun, blasting holes in the offending strike craft till they exploded.

Two pulled off from the main groups and presented their glowing undersides to each other. Crackling lines of energy linked the two vessels, and pulled them together for a sound linkage into a composite vehicle. With newfound power, the SCV rejoined the fight, powering not dozens but hundreds of orange ion beams into the midst of a number of fleeing enemy interceptors, obliterating all thirty of the fleeing fighters in a single volley. The SCV whirled around and launched itself back into the fight.

Octo watched with pride as the Turanics were pressed into a corner by the Seraphs. The ultimate fighters of the entire galaxy, Seraphs possessed the same technologies handed down to the Somtaaw by the enigmatic Bentusi during the last phase of the Beast War. And time had only strengthened the fighter, implementing the same omni-fighter technologies that they applied to their newer Acolytes that made them incredibly versatile, although the actual components differed. For example, some Seraphs possessed Ion Cannons capable of firing faster than others, trading in raw firepower for the ability to become the death of Strike Craft. Others possessed higher firepower, trading in the ability to dogfight properly with other fighters with extreme damage capabilities. Still others fired quickly _and_ had high firepower, gaining short term attack boosts in exchange for extremely quick overheating. And they all had secondary modules such as shielding, cloaking, or booster engines that could give them an edge in battle.

The Seraphs all clumped together and transformed into SCVs for one final attack, then collectively fired their weapons upon the last of the Raiders in a vast volley of orange ion beams. Unable to absorb the firepower of all the SCVs, the Raider vessels glowed red, then white hot, then exploded in a glorious shower of semi-molten metal.

Octo checked the statistics, and was relieved to find that once again, there were no casualties. Then again, Seraphs were fast _and_ durable, too fast for the heavier weapons that could penetrate its armor to hit and too durable for the devoted anti-fighter weapons to destroy. To see a swarm of Seraphs often spelled doom for an enemy fleet.

"Good work, Seraphs. Return to Kuun-Lan immediately for repair and recuperation," Octo ordered. Seraph pilots were not recommended to fly for too long, as sometimes they lost their touch with reality in the glorious feeling of their connection with their fighters, which, while nowhere as complete as that of a devoted Unbound such as the legendary Karan S'Jet, was still incredible and, as many friends of such pilots found to their dismay, rather intoxicating.

"Understood, commander." The SCVs split apart and headed back to Kuun-Lan.

Octo stood back. "I trust you've all accounted for the repairs of the others?" he asked his lieutenant, who responded with an affirmative. "That's good."

The Seraphs pulled up to the entry vectors and slowly filed in one-by-one. Octo checked on the progress of the repairs of each individual ship for some time, then he called the fleet to attention.

"This is commander Octo. Given what has happened to this part of the Border Patrol Fleet, we need to leave behind groups 1, 2, 4 and 6 in order to provided a sizable defense against enemy fleets. The rest will come with me back to Somtaaw shipyards to report a full account of what has happened to High Command."

The fleet responded entirely in affirmatives, and Octo organized Kuun-Lan's reduced escort fleet for another hyperspace jump deeper into Eden, where the hub of all Somtaaw work was located. Octo's heart was racing as he gave the final orders. _I'm finally going home!_

Octo paged the border patrol's temporary companions one last time. "If you all get any trouble, then open our emergency channel. The one _exclusive_ to _us_." He knew that they would know what he meant; though Octo had only been commander for a few months, he had been _second_ in command for much, much longer, and for those long years they all trusted him utterly, enough for him to set up an emergency channel for them to personally call the rest of that particular fleet for help.

Octo looked back one last time at his comrades in arms, then he squared his shoulders and gave the order. "Initiate the Jump sequence."

"Starting up the jump!" navigations confirmed.

Blue hyperspace windows stretched open in front of the jumping fleet, then swallowed the Somtaaw vessels and closed up. Octo looked out the viewport into the expanse of hyperspace and let out a sigh. _What a day this has been._

What a day indeed. But it was only a quarter through.

The worst was yet to come.


	8. Crossroads of Destiny

Relics of the Past

Chapter VIII

The Crossroads of Destiny

* * *

_Just what is the Eden system? _

_If you cannot answer this question, don't worry; you are far from alone. Many people in this galaxy are ignorant of this secret, one of the best-kept secrets in the entire universe._

_The Eden system is a wondrous solar system at the very edge of the Balcora Spiral, or the home galaxy of the Taiidan, Hiigarans, and the Bentusi even. It is a lush paradise, with a great many worlds capable of sustaining life, an enormous asteroid belt that provides a near infinite supply of RUs, an all-encompassing nebula that makes scanning difficult for all but the most advanced sensors, and, interestingly, a complex quantum field that, unless one properly times or calibrates their hyperspace jumps accordingly, will act as an incredible hyperspace interdiction field. Without an intricate understanding of its nature, it will completely shut out anyone attempting to hyperspace into the system. So far, only Somtaaw scientists have the keys to the Eden Gateway, as they call it, by nature of over thirty years of study. As such, only ships with standard Somtaaw hyperspace technology are able to enter or exit the galaxy at will, as they are the only ones properly calibrated to the quantum waveform of Eden. Others without this advantage must wait precisely for when the overlapping fields of quantum distortion shift to leave a small window of entry, a schedule that, once again, only Somtaaw have been able to interpret with reasonable success._

_One might say that Eden is merely a base of operations to Kiith Somtaaw. Others may see it as a useful colony world. But, in reality, Eden is neither of these to the mining Kiith. To them, Eden is home._

_Over fifty years ago, Kiith Somtaaw's long-range scans had detected Eden's abundant asteroid fields. As always, Kiith Somtaaw saw this as a valuable opportunity to harvest resources, and dispatched Kuun-Lan and her escorts, the 1__st__ Exploration fleet, to the system on a mining mission. It was to be a routine trip, just any other mining mission. There were to be no stops in between._

_No one expected things to turn out like they did._

_As fate would have it, the Somtaaw were completely unaware of the unusual quantum waveform around the solar system, and jumped blindly into the single window of entry, only to have it close on them and yank them out directly over the single world inhabited by a complex civilization: the main world, Eden._

_The Somtaaw were completely awestruck at the lush paradise sitting literally right outside their viewports. They had been told that this was a _mining_ paradise. No one had ever said it was a _tropical_ paradise. Having had no home to call their own even on Hiigara, the sight of a beautiful planet with vast shining oceans and massive green forests captured the hearts of the Somtaaw, and while scientists looked for the reason that they were yanked out of hyperspace, an exploration team was sent planetside._

_The landing craft touched down on a sandy beach with a perfect view of the shining seas on one side, and a tropical rainforest was beheld on the other, with all sorts of flowering plants that were completely unlike anything to be beheld on Hiigara. With an eagerness not unlike a child with a new toy to play with, the explorers set off into the jungle._

_For a time, everything was perfect. They did not have any malicious intent, and none had any to them. They continued to explore and observe wildlife, and all was fine._

_Then the predators showed up._

_Feeling threatened by the newcomers, the beasts at the top of the food chain attacked. Fearing for their lives, the Somtaaw explorers lashed out with their weapons, only aiming to immobilize the beasts. But more and more predators came, and eventually one unfortunate soldier had no choice but to use lethal force. _

_It was an act with terrible repercussions. Enraged at the death of one of their own, the predatory species lashed out with a mad vengeance, seeking the death of the Somtaaw. Slowly driven back into a corner and separated from their only means of escape, the explorers had resigned themselves to death, preparing to go down fighting._

_Then, salvation arrived._

* * *

_A strange sound suddenly echoed through the forest, a mystical, ethereal song-like tone that drew the attention of the animals and somehow calmed them slightly. A young man flew down on strange wings, buzzing at high speeds akin to that of an insect's, and landed in front of the animals. He touched his forehead to their leader's forehead, and a strange pulse of energy erupted from the contact. The leader drew away after a few moments and, with a low growl and a glare of distrust at the Somtaaw, went away with its brethren._

_The young man blew out a sigh of relief, and began to speak in a strange language that the Somtaaw didn't understand. He paused in his speech, as if to allow them to speak. When no one answered, he glanced at their faces, and took in their bemused expressions. "Ah," he said, as if understanding. Then, one by one, he began to speak in multiple different tongues, each one more bizarre sounding than the next, until suddenly they heard recognizable Taiidan words. The young man could see that they still didn't speak that language, though they recognized it, and sat down on a rock, pondering for a few moments. Then, to their utter shock, he said, "Do you understand me now?" in perfect Hiigaran, if slightly accented._

"_Judging from your expressions, I see you do," he asserted. He blew out a sigh of relief and swept his hand across his brow as if to wipe sweat from his forehead. "Thank goodness. I was worrying that I would have to move onto harder tongues. This language was almost painful for me to learn."_

"_H-how do you speak this language?" one man asked, quite stunned._

"_This tongue? Certain animals on the planet have ears that can listen to the communication signals of solar systems far away," the young man explained, standing up. "Well, I'm sorry you had such a poor welcome to our world, but Kriivonars are the jumpy type. Let me take you somewhere to give you a considerably more pleasant greeting."_

_Beckoning for them to follow him, he led them through a complex path in the forest, well-worn but nearly indistinguishable from hundreds other across the jungle floor. The Somtaaw found it hard to keep up, with all the vegetation about and the young man's nearly feline grace that allowed him to practically run up the side of large tree trunks and spring off like an acrobat to pass large obstacles with ease._

"_What are those wings on your back?" one young woman asked him._

"_Wings? What wings?" the young man asked, puzzled. Then he understood. "Oh, these aren't mine," he said quickly. "They're _hers_," he explained, stroking what they thought was a backpack that the wings were attached to, and to their shock an insectoid head with large eyes raised up and looked at them over his shoulder. The backpack was actually a very large insect with large, strong but gentle claws that kept the young man in a firm grasp, which helped with flight. "This is Saeriia," he said, gently scratching the dragonfly-like insect on the head, much to her delight. "She's my companion. I take her everywhere I go."_

"_How does she understand where to fly you?" the same young woman asked, eyeing Saeriia with interest._

"_My people are capable of telepathing with the wildlife on this planet. It doesn't work nearly as well on otherwolders," their guide explained. He took a flying leap off of a branch, and Saeriia's wings buzzed to life, sending him hurtling through the sky with an incredible grace and speed for someone of his height and build. He landed on another branch far ahead and then scooted off of it to land gracefully on the ground. "In the meantime," he said, pulling back a large leaf blocking their view of what lay beyond, "Let's start over with your welcome." _

"_Welcome to Eden."_

_The Somtaaw stared in wonder as they walked from a tropical jungle into a perfectly civilized forestial community—as great as any of the shining cities on Hiigara. Bustling about were hundreds of people of a great range of age groups, some mere toddlers, others old men, and still others youthful teenagers with animal companions that flocked about in youthful innocence, playing in the streets. There was a bellow of annoyance as one teenager nearly knocked a man off of what looked like a hexapedal rhino with four eyes and a tail that ended in a massive mace._

_The leader of this expedition looked around and frowned at the trees, sensing something odd about them. He tilted his head, squinted his eyes, and surveyed the ones around them. Then he blinked and looked again. "Are those… buildings?" he asked, gaping at the trees. He could see people poking their heads out of several of hundreds of hollows spaced amazingly evenly among the entire expanse of the towering giants that were this planet's trees, nearly taller than most of Hiigara's skyscrapers. Even as he watched, one young girl grasped a vine hanging outside her "window" and used it to position herself on the sturdy ivy that clung to the trunk of the tree, scampering nimbly down to the ground._

"_Yes, those are our dwellings," the young man said. "Not everything we can communicate is necessarily animal life, you see. The most talented ones can coax plants into growing a certain way. That's how we grow our dwellings."_

_The young man took them along the road, drawing many eyes from the others. Some stopped him and began to pepper him with questions in his native language, to which he responded with gentle but firm statements, drawing out looks of disappointment from the others, as if he had told them that he would tell them later and he couldn't be bothered at the moment._

"_Say," the leader of their expedition called, causing the young man to look back. "I forgot to ask. What's your name, stranger?"_

_The youth smiled, a touch of sheepishness about his lips. "My apologies. I've been flinging names and words about, but never mentioned my own. My name is Hekharo."_

_The leader nodded. "Thank you very much, Hekharo."_

_The Edeniite chuckled and beckoned for the Somtaaw to follow. "Don't thank me yet, my friends," he said. "There is much we still have to do."_

* * *

_In almost no time, by means of collective telepathy, the Edeniites called down the attention of the Somtaaw in orbit, who had been growing worried and were about to descend upon the planet with less-than-friendly troops._

_Many years would follow, and the two very different peoples would come to treat each other as their own. The Somtaaw were welcomed by the peaceful Edeniites with open arms, and most Somtaaw returned the generosity—some with their own lives when a massive Taiidan force entered the system. Determined to protect the planet where they had finally found a home where they could be themselves and not have to compete for their own existence as a Kiith, the vastly outnumbered Somtaaw fleet fought bravely against the Taiidan, using knowledge of the system gained from the Edeniites—and some unexpectedly effective assistance from the natives—to devastating effectiveness, leaving the Taiidani Imperial Remnant's fleet in ruins, at the cost of many of their own. Kuun-Lan itself was all but destroyed, its siege cannon and hangar module nearly slagged, its engines deadweights in space, and effectively blind except for what the crew could see._

_That was all in the past. But this is the present. And times have changed—what started as an accidental meeting has turned into a lifelong friendship between the two civilizations. The identities of two have fused into one, in every way except for name._

_And now, this peace is about to be disturbed by a great crisis looming over the horizon…_

* * *

**Duality Headquarters, primary Joint E-S Military base**

Octo waited patiently at the podium as the many generals and commanders, the senators and all other important political figures whose specific names he didn't bother to remember quieted down. He glanced at the Kiith-sa with a perfectly neutral expression, but a trained eye could see the burning fire of hatred that shone in his eyes; he truly loathed the man.

Octo clapped his hands together, calling forth everyone's attention. "Greetings, all. I presume you're wondering why this emergency meeting was called." He paused as murmurs of agreements and shouted questions ran their course. "If you will all listen," he cut in, "then I will tell you."

"In the many years of our existence as one civilization, few have managed to overcome our Border Patrol fleet. Recent events have been brought to light that could warrant some concern."

He launched into a quick tale of the devastating attack on the 783rd sector's Border Patrol Fleet. The room grew silent as Octo recounted the grim battle, and there was a collective gasp in the room as the young commander told of the final act of their comrades; there was even some weeping.

"My own fleet crushed the remaining forces, and a third remained to reinforce the 783rd," Octo finished. "However, I think we can agree that my one third will hardly be enough to reinforce the 783rd. We will most certainly need to replenish their forces."

"A question if you will, commander," a senator said. Octo motioned for him to continue. "How exactly was it that you were able to come to their aid so quickly? By your account, their communications had long been taken down. How would you have known to enter the battle?"

Octo sighed. "I suppose I should tell you all," he conceded. He promptly, if reluctantly, told the room about the trip to the Karos Graveyards, telling of the sudden appearance of the massive hyperspace core in a quantum disturbance, and how they had barely managed to claim it. He decided not to mention the surge that had caused changes in his own body.

"Overall, the mission was quite successful. A number of never-before-seen technologies were recovered in the journey, and now we have our own Hyperspace Core to use. I propose," he added, "that we integrate it into the new _Voyager_-mothership project."

There was a silence as everyone in the room processed the information.

"You took a grave risk, commander, going into the Karos Graveyards," a general noted.

Octo shrugged. "Dangerous is the middle name of the Somtaaw, isn't it?" he asked. "We always go into situations like this."

"Still, to risk the lives of your crew on a mission so deep into the Graveyards," a senator mused.

Octo sighed, slightly irritated. "I took a chance. Granted, it was dangerous, but the results have proved to have been worth the risk."

Throughout this exchange, Octo could see the Kiith-sa observing him carefully. _He's waiting for me to mess up,_ he thought to himself. _One false word, and he will have my position taken from me._

"No matter the result," the Kiith-Sa suddenly said. "You took an unauthorized journey into restricted space, against my orders."

"This is the research department's fault," one general said. "They sent him to find that core, so they should be serving punishment as well."

"WHAT?" the head scientist on Eden shouted, standing up in fury. "I resent that remark, General! You know just as well as I do that you military types believed that the source was of military value!"

"What would quantum disturbances have to do with military power?" the general asked dismissively.

"Quantum power would be very valuable, you fool," another general growled.

Soon the entire chamber was ringing out with argument as many fingers were pointed, no one wanting to take the blame themselves. Octo was shocked; this was about the defense of their own system, and they just wanted to blame each other?

Octo's hand went limp, then balled into a fist as Octo's shock turned to anger. Anger built up to rage, and rage exploded into fury. Shaking with anger, Octo tried to restrain himself, but as the argument intensified, so stretched his patience, until finally he slammed both of his fists with a tremendous explosion of sound into the podium, instantly drawing all eyes in the chamber, if not total silence. "All of you, SHUT THE HELL UP!"

The silence that followed was almost blissful. Octo was so angry that, in a rare fit of complete rage, went completely out of his usual character and launched into a very offensive rant at his superiors. "I don't give a damn about how many fucking years you have on me, I am simply amazed that I am the only here who GIVES A SHIT ABOUT THE STATE OF OUR NATION!"

"We have a job to do here, and here we are pointing fingers at each other to lay the blame on each other for something stupid like this when we should be worrying about this latest attack and the state of the Border Patrol Fleet! I am simply amazed that this could happen, when all of you are adults of over thirty years of age! Act the part, for Sajuuk's sake! Forgive my language, and I'll accept responsibility and punishment for anything I have done here later, but get your asses in gear and FOCUS ON THE BIGGER ISSUE!"

Octo stepped away from the podium and folded his arms, seething with rage and biting his tongue before he went off like a Siege Cannon again. One could have heard a cricket chirping in the chamber at this point; no one knew exactly what to say after such an outburst.

The Kiith-Sa, shaking in anger, was the first to speak. "How dare you speak to your elders that way," the man growled. "Fleet Commander Octo, I hereby announce you—"

"Enough, Kiith-Sa," they suddenly heard. All eyes turned to an elderly Edeniite Senator seated in a podium to Octo's right, who stood up. "I am simply ashamed that a mere child such as Octavius would have to tell us, fully grown men, to act our age. He is right; we must discuss the state of the Border Patrol Fleet. Let bygones be bygones, sir, and focus on the issue at hand. There is no need to fire a valuable commander just because he tried to force us to get back on task."

The man sat down. Octo nodded at him. "Thank you, Hekharo."

One senator began to clap, soon followed by another. In a few moments the chamber was filled with the sound of clapping.

Octo exchanged glances with Hekharo, to which Octo smiled and just clapped even harder. Hekharo smiled back and nodded, before standing and knocking near the intercom to silence everyone. "Now, now, there will be enough of that. Commander, exactly what is the state of the Border Patrol Fleet?"

Octo stood up. "Their forces have been reduced to a poor three Archangels, seven Deacons, thirteen Dervishes, two Hives…"

* * *

Octo and Hekharo exited the chamber with sighs of relief. "Kharak help us all," Octo muttered, tweaking his pinky in his ear to scratch an itch deep within. "Fifty or so of these, and I'm still more worn out after every single one than commanding in a battle."

Hekharo smiled. "They say that the hardest battles to fight are the political battles, especially among your own people. Just giving a speech is enough to strike fear into the hearts of most men."

Octo gave his friend a wry grin. "Well, wouldn't you be the expert?" he asked, in the manner of one asking a rhetorical question. "I mean, you have virtually forty years of experience in this."

Hekharo, ignoring that it was a rhetorical question, just shrugged. "When you live for as long as I do, things just roll off of you more."

Octo smiled. Hekharo was the first Edeniite the Somtaaw had ever known, and was the closest link between the Somtaaw and Edeniites. At age twenty-one, he had rescued the Somtaaw explorers from the predators of the Eden Jungles. Now at age seventy-five he participated in the complex politics of the two peoples. The man was revered by both peoples, almost like a second Karan S'Jet. But unlike with Karan, people still knew him personally.

They emerged from the government building, and Octo ran out and began to scratch an old insect's head. "Hey, Saeriia, how are you doing?" Octo asked, to which he got a series of chattering and buzzing noises. "I see," he said. "How was it?" More chattering and buzzing. "Oh, that's too bad." A flick of the wings. "I hope the next one's less torturous." He got a chittering cheerfulness in response.

Octo had been taught the language of many animals native to Edeniite. He didn't get to talk to them much these days, but every chance he got was seized immediately. Sometimes talking to the animals was more interesting than the humans they lived with. And often he would gain useful knowledge of some things he had missed in the past few days.

Octo listened as Saeriia suggested something to him. "Me?" he asked, surprised. He got a nod in response. "Try speaking it? I don't know, Saeriia, I haven't practiced it for a month." Saeriia gave him a reassuring chatter. "Okay, I'll try," Octo said.

Octo thought carefully, then made a series of buzzing and chattering noises almost too fast for the human ear to make out individually. Saeriia listened intently. "_You made a few mistakes,_" she said when he was finished. She corrected him, and Octo tried again. "_Somewhat accented, but otherwise rather good,_" the old insect said.

Hekharo smiled. Watching Octo and his lifelong companion talk, no matter that he had a hard time understanding the language, made his heart smile. He could get the gist of their conversation from his psychic power, but the specifics were lost on him. He had relied too much on his telepathy when he was young, and so hadn't made an effort to learn Saeriia's language before it was too late. But Octo was still young when he first started, along with a great many other languages including Taiidan and Edeniite. In fact, there were so many languages running through the boy's brain that sometimes he would accidentally spout a strange mixture of Taiidan, Hiigaran, Edeniite, and Edisect (the language that, strangely, all insects on Eden spoke in one form or another) all at once whenever he was agitated. Many people have jumped in surprise when Octo would suddenly let out an outpour of foul curses in over thirteen languages that they didn't understand, and a few that they did.

"You have still much to learn Octo," Hekharo said, causing the young man to look up. "Try not to let your anger get the better of you next time. That was an extremely close call today, and I cannot guarantee that it will turn out so well next time."

Octo nodded. "Understood." He stood up. "What now?"

Hekharo just smiled. "For now, we go home. Get rest. Leave the generals to their tasks; you have returned from a long voyage, and need to recover."

Octo jumped onto Saeriia, who had grown to the size of a hovertruck over the years. "Then what are we waiting for?"

Hekharo chuckled. "Wait for an old man to get on, young one." He slowly but limberly got into the saddle upon Saerria's back.

Octo fixed his goggles in place and the two buckled themselves in. "All set?" he asked. Getting affirmatives from both, he then shouted, "Then let's head home. Lift off, Saeriia!"

Saeriia's wings buzzed to life, flickering from one position to another at blinding speed like only an insect would, and took off, clocking through the air at close to one hundred miles per hour.

Octo let out a wild whoop of joy while Hekharo held on for dear life. "Octo, be careful!" the old man screamed. "I'm not as young as I used to beeeeeeeee!"

* * *

**Hethlim Ice Fields:**

"Hit them where it hurts!" Shen shouted. A rumbling thunder echoed through the ship as the _Wanderer's_ sole remaining energy projector powered up and fired a precise beam of ionized wrath straight through the hull of a Vaygr Destroyer, piercing it directly to the Heavy Fusion Missile loading bays as it was about to fire. The missiles detonated prematurely and tore the vessel apart from the inside, effectively taking it out of the fight.

Shen glanced back at the radar. That was one Destroyer down, and still too many to go. But he was more worried about the vast swarm of Frigates swirling around the badly damaged _Wanderer_. _This many Frigates are easily more than a match for a damaged _Wanderer, Shen thought to himself.

To his alarm, the proximity alert began to sound. "Ramming?" he shouted, whirling towards the viewport.

He was greeted with the sight of a strange pod flying towards him.

Shen flinched and jumped backwards instinctively. _What is that?_

The pod crashed into the viewport and locked in place. The bottom anchored perfectly against the transparent viewport, leaving no gaps whatsoever. A pair of plasma cutters in the bottom sliced through the viewport and cut out a large square, retracting it. The bottom popped open, and something jumped out. Then another. And another.

Soon, there were sixteen Brute soldiers standing on the bridge.

Shen summed up the situation with just two words: "Oh, _shit_."

The Brute Major among them barked a foreign order, and with a roar, the Brutes charged out of the infiltration pod and closed in on the unprepared Elites with lethal Spikers and Brute Plasma Rifles. With a look of grim determination, and not sparing vital moments for second thoughts, Shen slid an emergency Energy Stave from its place right next to him, and lifted it overhead. Without pausing, he hurled it with all his might straight into a Brute soldier's chest, foremost Brute Minor, where it pierced the footsoldier's low-grade armor and lodged in his heart.

The Brute Minor coughed and muttered a curse at Shen. He plucked a grenade from his belt and, as he fell, attempted to throw it. But a single plasma bolt fired by Salvo's plasma pistol detonated it before it could leave the Brute's hand. And before the explosion could consume their allies, twin Hunter-issue assault shields slammed down in front of the friendly soldiers, protecting them from the worst of the explosion.

Shen drew his energy swords and, with a jetpack-assisted leap, vaulted over the shields. Using the low gravity to his advantage, before he cleared the shields he gave them a short kick to propel him forwards and go into a dangerously quick spiral, turning himself in midair at high speeds and creating a deadly energy vortex. He spun straight through three Brutes and landed before the Major. The Major dropped his Fuel Rod Gun and swung down his Gravity Hammer, but Shen was too fast for him. With one clean strike, Shen sliced through hammer and Brute alike, and without a pause decapitated two more.

As the unfortunate pair fell, Shen crouched and leapt high into the air, triggering his jetpack once more to send him flying over the Brutes. Before they could turn around, he angled both of his Energy Swords and, with two blindingly fast strokes, cut four more down. And as those fell, he swapped one sword for a Plasma Rifle and unleashed a punishing volley of plasma bolts into the visors of the Brutes, blinding them long enough for him to gouge them through the chests with his energy sword or his gauntlet's energy daggers.

In less than a minute, all the Brutes lay dead.

Shen looked up as the proximity alert sounded again. "So they're aiming to board," he noted. He also noticed that the first pod was now gone, having resealed the opening it had made. "And they recycle their pods," he guessed. He didn't have time to think further, as more pods crashed into the viewport and ceiling.

Shen switched for his Plasma rifles, but the others on the bridge had abandoned their posts and were already firing as soon as the pods opened. Many Brutes fell dead before they could get out of the pods, and some died shortly after. But other infiltration pods were coming, and Shen turned to see that the doors leading to other parts of the ship had opened, and to his dismay more Brutes filed in. _They must have broken in on other parts of the ship,_ he thought grimly. He felt sad for the comrades he might have lost, but there was nothing he could do.

He noted with dry amusement that the Brutes had stopped firing upon the Wanderer. _Oh, the irony._ In this hour of doom, they stood the greatest chance of surviving because they were trying to board the ship.

Shen and his crew stood in the center of the bridge, trapped between two forces. Shen drew his twin Plasma Rifles; Salvo slid extra needles into his needler. Tui clenched his massive fists, and La wordlessly charged her Fuel Rod Cannon.

"Everyone, if we don't get out of this, I want to say one last thing," Shen said. Everyone listened expectantly.

"I just wanted to say: It's been an honor serving with you."

With that said, the Brutes leveled their weapons at them, and Shen's group prepared for combat.

Without warning, Salvo suddenly charged forward screaming..._clutching_ _a plasma_ _grenade in each hand._

Alarmed beyond words, the Brutes were thrown instantly into turmoil and fired on the Grunt in a frantic attempt to avoid complete destruction by a suicidal Grunt. Shen was about to shout for Salvo to stop, but suddenly felt a poke on his leg, and he looked down to see the Grunt smirking at him. Salvo just winked, and quickly ran to retake control of a plasma turret.

Salvo glanced back at the Grunt the Brutes were still trying to shoot down without success. _Wait,_ he thought. _That's not_-_!_

The Grunt seemingly vanished into thin air. _It is..._ Shen thought, sweatdropping.

Having been thrown into turmoil, the Brutes were now open to attack. Shen barked an order, and quickly launched himself through the air. He fell upon a number of Brutes with bloodthirsty energy blades. He spun through the ranks of the Brutes in a vortex of plasma, making his way to the Energy Stave he had thrown earlier.

Shen put away his swords and picked up the pike. He swung the butt of the weapon into the chest of a Brute and threw him back into his comrades. Dancing forward, he planted the head in the throat of another Brute, and dragged out the tip to slash it across the chest of three more.

A Brute Warchief was about to fire on him with a Brute Shot, but was suddenly struck by an Overcharge. Switching to his needler, Salvo followed up with a blistering shower of needles, filling the unguarded Chieftian with around twenty needles before they finally flared up in an impressive explosion.

Salvo laughed and waved a Grenade mockingly at the Brutes and casually tossed it into their midst. The Brutes scrambled to get away, but to their horror, not only had it landed smack-dab on a Brute who had been preparing to throw a grenade of his own and hadn't paid attention, but it also stuck to the grenade itself AND stuck the both of them to the unfortunate Brute.

Shen watched the spectacular explosion. _What are the odds?_ he wondered. _Astronomical_. He quickly twirled his stave and lanced through another Brute, before propping it up in the crook of his right elbow and drawing his plasma rifle, unleashing a barrage of plasma bolts into an unarmored Brute trying to attack a few of his subordinates.

A Brute swung his Gravity Hammer down towards Shen. Shen spun backwards and, stowing the rifle, cut the shaft of the Gravity Hammer in two, causing the head to drop on the Brute's foot. As the poor Jiralnahae hopped and cursed, Shen stove his chest in with the head of his weapon. He yanked the head of his weapon out and swung it in a wide circle over his head, creating a lethal wheel of energy that forced the Brutes closing in to jump back in order to avoid it. One powered up their Fuel Rod Gun, but a rumble through the decks signified that Shen should initiate Armor Lock immediately.

As Shen overloaded his shield generators, a massive explosion tore through the area as Tui and La fired dual salvos from their Fuel Rod Cannons. Tui and La took aim once more and fired at the Brutes hiding behind their unretrieved shields. The shields protected the Brutes, but unfortunately for them they couldn't remain upright and fell on them with crushing force. As the Brutes stumbled and tried to recover from the onslaught, an explosion of pure sound shattered their eardrums, and they were hurled to the ground once more. Uram smirked as he took his hand off the intercom console and immediately reached for his holstered Sonic Gun, which was an experimental weapon made by a certain Radin Auram'ee, and scientist and soldier were itching to try it out.

Making sure his gauntlet was protecting his arm, Uram pulled the trigger on the plasma rifle-sized weapon. Immediately, a booming retort exploded out of the barrel of the weapon, nearly dislocating the Elite's elbow. A blast of pure sound roared into a trio of Brutes trying to counter Tui's brute strength with their Gravity Hammers, slamming to the ground with ringing eardrums. Barely pausing, Tui promptly made sure that they would never hear or rise again.

"Ouch," Uram hissed, grabbing his elbow. _Good thing that was my non-dominant hand,_ he thought. _That's going to put a damper on my fighting._

Another Brute marched up to him with his Carbine leveled, and the Elite promptly grasped his wrist this time as he fired the weapon. This time the kick was more controlled; he managed to keep his elbow from jumping out of its socket much better. The Brute's teeth shattered from the attack, and with a scream sounding much like broken glass, he fell writhing to the ground. Feeling somewhat remorseful, Uram ended the poor brute's life with a short stab from his Energy Dagger.

Tui ran over with the great, lumbering strides of a hunter and retrieved his shield. He roared and bashed in the skulls of three Brutes at once, then unleashed a punishing kick that sent a Captain flying. He grunted in annoyance as he was stung by a volley of Plasma rifle rounds in his unprotected back area. He hummed briefly, and La turned around. The Brutes, facing Tui, didn't realize that La had fired until it was far too late.

Tui picked up La's shield and hurled it like a massively oversized shuriken, slicing straight through two Brute's who were assaulting his bond "sister." La retrieved it and promptly used its sharp edge to brutally decapitate an offending Jiralhanae. The other Brutes in the area hurriedly retreated.

Tui roared as he brought his massive shield down upon a Brute; a gong-like sound signified the death of another foe. He grunted in pain as he took fire to his unprotected neck, and threw the shield, cutting the unfortunate attacker in two.

"I'll take that," he said, plucking a Gravity Hammer from the grasp of a surprised Jiralhanae. Not caring if it would work or not, he let out another battle-cry like rumbling thunder and hurled the hammer with nearly perfect accuracy into the midst of a reinforcement troop of Brutes, hurling them in all directions from the gravitic shockwave. They slammed into the viewport and walls, and several _somethings_ cracked. Not the walls or viewport.

Tui grunted in pain as several needle-like fiery stings of a plasma rifle peppered his backside, and he whirled around, firing a burst from his Fuel Rod Cannon and punishing the attacker. Before he could move again, La suddenly slammed down upon a pair of unsuspecting Brutes, crushing them under her weight. She reached forward and slammed the heads of two more together with lethal force, cracking their helmets—and skulls, for that matter—wide open. With a rumbling snarl, she slashed through three more Brutes with the sharp edge of her shield and painted the air around her with low-powered Fuel Rod Cannon bursts, enough to force the Brutes into retreat.

A number of Brutes had entered from the hallway and were about to attack when suddenly the two at the forefront were brought down by a hail of plasma bolts. The rest looked up to see Salvo peering down at them from where he stood—with a Plasma Turret.

"Uh-oh," one barely had time to say before Salvo gunned him and two others behind him down with a volley of plasma bolts. Salvo adjusted his aim and fired again, sending another wave of airborne plasma straight at the Brutes. The ones he aimed at quickly initiated armor lock while the others returned fire. Salvo ducked the Spiker rounds that flew his way.

Salvo was suddenly aware of a single stray round lancing straight for him. He jolted far enough to get out of the way, but the round grazed his methane tank. The metal was shorn to the point where the air pressure alone caused the tank to crack, and Salvo listened with dread to the sound of his air leaking out.

The Brutes shouted in triumph and were about to charge the Grunt when a chilling wild warcry from the Grunt stopped them dead in their tracks with fear. Ahead, Salvo had suddenly yanked out and armed two plasma grenades and was charging them wildly.

The closest minors ran for it while the others opened fire. The air was filled with enough firepower to bring down a small tank. But no matter what they did, the Grunt just kept coming. One was about to fire a Fuel Rod Gun when suddenly a Plasma Grenade plunked itself neatly in their midst.

The Brutes gaped at it, then looked for the thrower. To their disbelief, Salvo was waving at them from the turret. He slapped a device on his chest, and immediately a virtual clone of Salvo charged in a different direction, holding a pair of armed plasma grenades and causing more chaos among the ranks fo the Brutes.

In their final moments, the Brutes finally realized with doomed frustration what had happened. _It was a hologram..._

Their world erupted in a blaze of heat and agony, and they knew no more.

Salvo cackled. "I love this thing," he chortled, smacking his harness and sending another suicide clone charging towards another squad of Brutes. They glanced at the clone, and suddenly spun back in horror and, like their dead comrades, desperately tried to gun down the nonexistent Grunt. Salvo twisted his turret around and opened fire. He maintained his barrage for a few seconds, then he picked up a loaded Fuel Rod Gun from a dead Brute and shot a number of exploding Fuel Rods into the survivors.

Salvo glanced around and was rather intimidated by the number of remaining Brutes. _We've fought our hardest from the beginning, and there are still this many?_

Salvo suddenly heard a roar behind him, and dove to the left to barely avoid a Gravity Hammer trying to reduce him to pulp. As it was, the Gravity Hammer hurled him about twenty feet, clear across the room and into the midst of more Brutes.

Salvo ignored his bruised side, got out his needler and fired wildly around himself. _We have to hold the line,_ he told himself.

* * *

A squadron of Brutes opened the doors to the research wing. The whole place was darkened; the lights were out, and not a soul was in sight.

Not buying it, the Brute Captain looked around and growled. "Search the area! There are surely Elites hiding in here, and I want them dead!"

The ten Brutes under his command bowed and ran off.

One walked up the stairs onto the second level, where a catwalk took him into room with highly classified equipment. He smirked and smashed the door down with his Gravity Hammer.

The room inside was also empty.

Disappointed, the Brute turned around and was about to leave when suddenly a dark figure dropped from the ceiling behind him and gouged open a hole in his power armor with an Energy Dagger. Before the Brute could make any noise, the figure clapped his hand over his mouth and stabbed a syringe into the hole, injected something into the Brute's bloodstream. The Brute immediately stopped struggling and slumped lifelessly to the ground.

One Brute noticed his comrade's disappearance and ran up the catwalk. He saw the room, and ran in as well. He shouted out when he saw his dead comrade, and was about to warn the others when suddenly a blast door slammed shut over the entrance to the room.

The Brute barely had time to react before something heavy fell upon him and tore his throat open with an Energy Dagger. The dark figure from before left the Brute to thrash on the ground in his death throes and marched out of the room, closing the blast doors behind him.

A clanking noise drew the attention of the Brute Captain and the two accompanying him. "What was that?" the captain asked.

One Brute Minor caught a flicker of movement, and opened fire. His gunshots split open a canister of volatile chemicals, and they exploded violently.

"Don't just shoot like that!" the Captain shouted. "This a laboratory; all the substances in here could be explosive!"

They turned around warily, looking for anything out of place. They didn't know that a figure cloaked in Active Camouflage was leveling something at them…

One Brute suddenly cried out. The Captain looked, and saw that the Minor had been entangled by a net of some kind. Before he could react, a metal cable suddenly flashed out of the darkness and looped itself around his wrist, and hooked into the net.

The Brute Minor suddenly saw a darkened figure dashing over the catwalk. "There!" he shouted, and fired.

The figure vaulted over the railing and spun like a gymnast through the air, throwing a bolas-like cable. It twirled itself around the Brute Captain's bound wrist and bound the arms of the Brute Minor to his chest.

"What is this?" the Captain shouted.

"Your doom," they heard, and saw a young Elite researcher spill a chemical onto the floor, which seeped onto the floor under the Brute entangled in the net.

"Do you know what that is?" the researcher asked, plugging an insulated cable into a generator. He held up the other end of the cable and explained, "It's a superconducting liquid. Highly dangerous, and very toxic. Perfect for killing someone exactly the way I will do it."

The researcher switched on the generator and jumped onto a table. "Get ready for the shock of your life," he said as electricity buzzed and crackled from the end of the cable. "Because that's the last thing you'll know."

With that, he tossed the cable into the puddle of superconducting liquid.

The three Brutes screamed as hundreds of thousands of volts of electricity arced through their bodies. When the researcher finally switched off the generator, the three slumped lifelessly to the ground.

Radin sat down heavily, took a few deep breaths, and tried very hard to dispel the nausea in his stomach. He had never killed on purpose before, and now he had purposely killed eleven. No matter that they were Brutes, they were living beings, and thought made him sick.

He raised his head to the ceiling. _Calm down,_ he thought. _They would have killed you if you hadn't killed them_. It was hardly comforting, but his stomach settled just a little bit better with this viewpoint.

He vaulted back up onto the catwalk and triggered his experimental Active Camo. He had never expected to have to test the device in such circumstances, but it had proved to work like a charm.

_Test number two,_ he thought to himself, quietly pulling out an experimental weapon he had designed himself. He secured the tank and screwed in the nozzle, then quietly powered it up. He dashed down to the lower level and huddled just outside the door. He released his Camo to let it recharge.

He could already hear another troop coming down the corridor. _I will protect my fellow scientists,_ he thought. _Even if it stains my soul black._

As the door opened, Radin triggered his Active Camo again. _Type 8 Infantry Support Weapon, the "Thunderhead", test number 1_, he thought to himself as the troop filed in. And with that, he squeezed the trigger.

* * *

"HALT!"

Everyone on the battlefield froze. A Brute Captain Ultra strode out from the ranks of his troops, glaring at the cornered Elites, Hunters, and remaining Grunt with reluctant respect.

"You have fought well, brave soldiers," he said. "But surely you can see that all is lost."

"You are all injured." Shen grimaced; blood trickled across his armor from a where Spiker round had impaled itself in his shoulder. He was limping from where another three rounds had planted themselves in his right thigh, foot, and calf. Tui and La were burned all over in their exposed lekgolo worms that made up their form; from the rumbling rasp Shen could feel from the floor, he could tell they were reaching their limit. Salvo was wheezing; his methane tank had been breached some time ago, and was leaking methane. In addition, the Grunt was at the brink of his stamina, having been fighting at 170% of what a Grunt should have been fighting at. Uram was holding his injured elbow, and there was a long bloody gash on the side of his exposed face from where a Gravity Hammer had nearly gored him with the axe-blade.

"We outnumber you a hundred to one on this ship," the captain continued. "You are excellent fighters. Surrender now, and we will make you the finest of our slaves, above some of the…" his eyes flashed wickedly, "_weaker_ races we've encountered before."

"And if we refuse?" Shen asked.

"Then you will die painful, insignificant, and _dishonorable_ deaths," the Ultra replied.

For a moment, no one spoke. Then, "No. We would rather die than become slaves of your oppressive rule. No matter that you claim we would be your finest, to surrender would be to forfeit our honor. We will not surrender." All heads around him nodded in agreement.

The Brute sighed. "I tried to be reasonable. What a waste." He grimaced. "Pity. Such valuable skills go to waste."

The Brutes raised their weapons. Shen and the others geared themselves for attack…

"AGH!" Everybody's eyes were suddenly drawn to a Brute in the back of the crowd. A Brute rushed over, and saw that his throat had been slashed—by a metal weapon.

"What trickery is this?" the captain snarled.

"No trickery, Jiralhanae," they heard out of thin air. "Just some neat skills—and a heck of a tech genius."

"Who are you? And more importantly, _what_ are you?" Shen called.

"Show yourself, and we might decide to negotiate!" the captain hollered, forgetting the Elites in his rage. "If you intend to challenge us, then I suggest you flee for your life before we hunt you down!"

There was silence for a moment. Then, to the shock of everyone present, a figure faded in from Active Camo. His strange emerald armor gleamed in the lights on the bridge. His golden visor reflected their expressions of shock right back at them. The armor's components and the weapons the man carried were unfamiliar, but their style was unmistakable.

"This is Spartan Samuel-034," the armored figure said coldly, hefting his weapon. "I'm afraid it's Spartans you're talking to, sir. We're not going anywhere."


	9. Delays SERIOUS ONES AT THAT

Ok, bad news people.

As a year without updates may have told you, I can't exactly continue this incarnation of relics of the past. A few reasons:

My original fanfic, Rise of the Forbidden, needs my attention. Desperately so. I want to finish that thing before I never get a chance to.

THIS WAS HORRIBLY WRITTEN! I don't know if you've noticed, but my writing is so jumpy that it makes me cringe. Not to mention that my OC was a COMPLETE GARY STU! I'm working on serious balancing issues, as well as my issue of "encyclopediac level of characters". I have way too many, fyi.

THEREFORE!

If Relics of the Past is ever to be updated again, it will come up under the following name:

RELICS OF THE PAST: THE SECOND CATACLYSM

Spoiler:

_In the wake of the destruction of Alpha Halo, the disgraced Covenant forces that failed to protect it were sent on a mission to retrieve Forerunner artifacts. Little do they know, they are uncovering much of the Forerunners' inheritance. Too much. A remake of the remake of Sithking Zero's story! XD_

That's how it will go should I eventually find the time to do it. I am a senior in high school, and a writer who's got a 150 chapter-long project ahead of him. Wish me luck all, and I hope I can get back to this story; what I have envisioned is amazing I promise you.

In the meantime, I shall entertain you with the names and identifications of the SIX gods of the Homeworld Universe:

Sajuuk, He whose hand shapes all

Trait: Creation of matter

Tesla-suur, She whose gaze brings light to all

Trait: Energy Production

Sanghelios, He whose breath breathes life into all

Trait: Lifegiving

Tu-rahk, the Minister

Trait: Time Control

Qwaar-Jet, the Destroyer

Trait: Gravity Manipulation

Koshiir-Ra, the Guardian

Trait: Quantum Energy Manipulation

I'll leave their function in the story up to your imaginations for now; won't change what I write. But don't expect great things from me; not happening in the near future, and if I don't get to finishing Rise of the Forbidden, it may never happen. I am making no promises; my best is going to be limited with 4 AP courses this year. Then again, I've never been fast to begin with.

See you (way) later, readers.

And again sorry.

Aeron Solo wuz here


End file.
